Gordon Hanson on illegal immigrants and our economy n in Newsweek
"Why Americans Think (Wrongly) That Illegal Immigrants Hurt the Economy"
05/20/2010
Arian Campo-Flores,
Newsweek
At the heart of the debate over illegal immigration lies one key question: are immigrants good or bad for the economy? The American public overwhelmingly thinks they're bad. In a recent New York Times/CBS News poll, 74 percent of respondents said illegal immigrants weakened the economy, compared to only 17 percent who said they strengthened it. Yet the consensus among most economists is that immigration, both legal and illegal, provides a small net boost to the economy. Immigrants provide cheap labor, lower the prices of everything from produce to new homes, and leave consumers with a little more money in their pockets. They also replenish—and help fund benefits for—an aging American labor force that will retire in huge numbers over the next few decades. So why is there such a discrepancy between the perception of immigrants' impact on the economy and the reality?
Read the full article at Newsweek.
Related Links
Professor Hanson is the director of the Center on Pacific Economies and is a professor of economics at UC San Diego.
