Immigration

Archive for Immigration

Ironic Juxtaposition

I’m not reading too much into this, just saying I noticed that in back-to-back posts (though one was a re-run) on EconLog this was funny: ==> Bryan Caplan has a post (which was front and center on my phone, but they actually re-ran from June 3) wondering why immigration is even a contentious issue among […]

Bob Murphy Show ep. 11: The Economics of Immigration and a Border Wall

Ooooh I’m topical in this one. Immigration is so hot right now.

ICE Removals Under Trump vs. Obama

[UPDATED with more info about interior removals under Obama.] I kept hearing conflicting statistics, but thanks to a commenter at Scott Sumner’s blog, I found the relevant reports to sort it all out. So if you want to make it seem like Trump is deporting way more people than Obama–and both Trump’s fans and critics […]

Bill Clinton in 1995 = Donald Trump in 2015

My dad sent me this. Now admittedly, Clinton didn’t say Mexico is sending us rapists and some of them were (he’s sure) good people, talk about moratorium on Muslims, etc. But it is remarkable how closely this fits what the standard Trump stance was, and how this was nothing shocking back then. (Remember kids: I […]

Puzzles on Labor Demand Elasticity?

We typically think the demand curve for labor is downward sloping, right? Empirically, the modal estimate of the elasticity of labor demand is something like -0.4. (So a 10% increase in wages means a 4% drop in the number of workers employers want to hire.) So in light of the fact that we know the […]

In the Long Run, We’re All Earthlings

In a recent post on the economics of immigration, Nick Rowe engages in the most astonishing example of “use the Cobb-Douglas model to assume away the very problem under discussion and don’t even realize you did it” that I’ve ever seen. Here’s Nick: When economists disagree with public opinion, I normally agree with the economists. […]

Framing Effects in the Name Game

(We also would have accepted, “Tyranny by any other name…”) In certain states, there are restrictions on your legal name. (For example, in some states there are length limits, and in some states you can’t use numbers.) Now some libertarians will probably say, “You should be able to name yourself whatever you want, screw the […]

Landsburg Agrees That Paul Krugman (Often) Is an Anti-Economist

Since I’m still getting ready to hammer him for his defense of Gruber post, I want to make sure to heap kudos on Steve’s most recent post on Krugman, regarding Krugman’s post defending Obama’s immigration announcement. Some key excerpts: Dammit, I hate this stuff. Krugman says (and I agree with him) that it’s cruel to […]