Attention Economy


Thursday, November 23, 2023

Rethinking the Economics of Immigration

Mass migration has been an economic and political catastrophe
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/11/23/mass-migration-has-been-an-economic-and-political-catastrop/
It is time the consensus that immigration always and everywhere increases growth and makes us richer was smashed
Related: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/09/13/shrinking-population-will-benefit-richest-nations-obr-chief/
 
Macroeconomic impacts of changes in life expectancy and fertility
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212828X22000573
Abstract
This paper analyses economic implications of the different ways in which the population structure of countries becomes older: longer lives and declines in fertility both generate ageing populations but have very different impacts upon the aggregate population. If lower fertility persists populations in many countries will decline. Having reviewed the evidence for this, I consider both why fertility rates have fallen and may stay low. I then analyse the economic implications of populations that may stop growing and start to fall, focusing on how this may play out in the UK. I consider policy implications of such a demographic shift. Despite many predictions of the dire consequences of falling populations the economic impacts are likely, on balance, to be positive. 

The Hard Truth About Immigration
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/10/us-immigration-policy-1965-act/675724/
If the United States wants to reduce inequality, it’s going to need to take an honest look at a contentious issue. 

David Leonhardt: 
I think our immigration policy should take into account the sharp rise in inequality over the last few decades. One way to do so would be to reduce, or at least hold constant, the level of immigration by people who would compete for lower- and middle-wage jobs while increasing immigration among people who would compete for higher-wage jobs.


Skilled versus Unskilled Immigrants: