To Create Jobs, Open the Border
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If you've watched the Republican or Democratic National Conventions, you know that immigration remains near the center of our political conversation. Maybe because the United States imagines itself as a nation of migrants, the question of whether and how to admit newcomers seems perpetually fraught.
Of course, most of that conversation is about unauthorized immigration-- how to handle things like illegal border crossings, bad-faith asylum seekers, and children of undocumented migrants. These are undoubtedly big issues, but they obscure the fact that our legal immigration system is badly dysfunctional and doesn't let in nearly enough people to meet the needs of our economy. In fact, the failures of our regular system may be a large part of what drives the illegal crossings.
These, at least, are the conclusions that Exequiel (Zeke) Hernandez came to after years of studying the data. Zeke is a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and has won an unprecedented three consecutive Emerging Scholar awards. His research has been published and profiled in NPR, Forbes, and the Wall Street Journal, and he's been recognized by Poets & Quants as one of the best "40 Under 40" business professors in the world.
Among his other findings, Zeke points out that the conventional fear that immigrants will take jobs away from native-born Americans is overblown. For the most part, he argues, those workers fill shortages in critical sectors. And in any case, jobs are only one element of a healthy economy that also relies on investment, innovation, talent, and taxes. In those areas, Zeke argues, the net-positive impact of immigrants is even easier to see.
Listen to Zeke explain the broad benefits of immigration:
We also heard a lot of other big ideas this week, like:
Have a listen to these big ideas and let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
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