Samuelson Immigration Essay
06/06/2005
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Robert J. Samuelson has a big piece in Newsweek about the economics of immigration. (See Peter Brimelow on Samuelson last year.)

Useful point:

But some things we do know—or can infer. For today’s Mexican immigrants (legal or illegal), the closest competitors are tomorrow’s Mexican immigrants (legal or illegal). The more who arrive, the harder it will be for existing low-skilled workers to advance. Despite the recession, immigration did not much slow after 2000, says Camarota. Not surprisingly, a study by the Pew Hispanic Center found that inflation-adjusted weekly earnings for all Hispanics (foreign and American-born) dropped by 2.2 percent in 2003 and 2.6 percent in 2004. “Latinos are the only major group of workers whose wages have fallen for two consecutive years,” said the study. Similarly, the more poor immigrants, the harder it will be for schools to improve the skills of their children. The schools will be overwhelmed; the same goes for social services.

The Hard Truth of Immigration - Newsweek Business - MSNBC.com

Samuelson is familiar with the work of George Borjas, quoting a recent studyby Borjas on Mexican immigrants and education. Of course, most of what Samuelson is discussing is familiar to VDARE.com readers, but Newsweek has bigger circulation, for some reason.

[Update: I had written “Paul Samuelson” above, thanks to the reader who pointed it out.]

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