[marketcorrection] Don Boudreaux: Simon Says: People are the Ultimate Resource

[Email subscription to blog articles]

Posted by Don Boudreaux:
Simon Says: People are the Ultimate Resource
http://marketcorrection.powerblogs.com/posts/1172712871.shtml


   17 May 2006
   Editor, The Washington Post
   1150 15th St., NW
   Washington, DC 20071
   Dear Editor:
   Robert Samuelson says that "while the presence of low-skilled
   immigrant workers may raise the profits of their employers, they tend
   to have a negative effect on the well-being of the low-skilled
   native-born population, and on the native economy as a whole" ("Still
   Dodging Immigration's Truths," May 17). Not so.
   First, even George Borjas - a favorite economist of immigration
   skeptics - agrees that immigrants annually contribute, on net, $7
   billion to the U.S. economy. Second, don't forget that capital is more
   mobile even than people. If immigration raises employers' profits,
   these higher profits attract additional investment and new competitors
   into these industries. Profits return to normal levels, and wages and
   output increase.
   Sincerely,
   Donald J. Boudreaux
   Chairman, Department of Economics
   George Mason University