Thursday, June 07, 2007

Immigration and Free Trade

I am often asked: how can you support free trade while favoring curbs on immigration? If borders are open to goods and capital, should they not be open to people as well? This argument used to impress me a great deal. (In the next NRODT I tell the story of how I came to change my mind on immigration.)  But can we please note that from a distributional point of view, immigration functions more like protectionism than trade?

Protectionists always do well in Congress because the benefits of protectionism are tightly concentrated while the costs are broadly dispersed. The beneficiaries clamor for protection; the victims keep quiet.

 Isn't that exactly what happens with immigration? The benefits of open borders are claimed by a few tightly organized groups; the costs fall on the American people as a whole. Result ... what you see.

After all: have you ever known senators to work so ferociously to uphold a public interest?

06/07 09:08 AM