Should the US have locked heaven’s door?

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• Article - Journal of Population Economics

Abstract

This paper examines the economic impact of the second great immigration wave (1945–2000) on the US economy. Our analysis relies on a computable general equilibrium model combining the major interactions between immigrants and natives (labor market impact, fiscal impact, capital deepening, endogenous education, endogenous inequality). Contrary to recent studies, we show that immigration induced important net gains and small redistributive effects among natives. According to our simulations, the postwar US immigration is beneficial for all natives cohorts and all skill groups. Nevertheless, the gains would have been larger if the US had conducted a more selective immigration policy.

Citation

Chojnicki, Xavier, Docquier, Frédéric and Ragot, Lionel, (2011), Should the US have locked heaven’s door?, Journal of Population Economics, 24, issue 1, p. 317-359, https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:jopoec:v:24:y:2011:i:1:p:317-359.

@ARTICLE{RePEc:spr:jopoec:v:24:y:2011:i:1:p:317-359,
title = {Should the US have locked heaven’s door?},
author = {Chojnicki, Xavier and Docquier, Frédéric and Ragot, Lionel},
year = {2011},
journal = {Journal of Population Economics},
volume = {24},
number = {1},
pages = {317-359},
keywords = {Immigration; Welfare; Computable general equilibrium; J61; I3; D58},
url = {https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:jopoec:v:24:y:2011:i:1:p:317-359}
}