These critics rightly rage against protectionism and other
harmful curbs on economic freedom. Yet favoring free trade, but not the freer
movement of people who produce goods and services, is economically illiterate.
Just as it is cheaper and mutually beneficial for Americans to import IT
services from India, it often makes sense to import services, such as
housecleaning, that have to be delivered on the spot. The fact that immigrants
are here illegally is not a sign of moral turpitude, but of misguided government
intervention in the labor market. Because employers cannot obtain visas for
foreigners to come here legally, immigrants have no choice but to come illegally
instead. The only crime committed by these enterprising people is wanting to
work hard to earn a better life for themselves and their children—the epitome of
the American dream. Their efforts benefit the economy considerably. They lower
production costs and thus reduce consumer prices, enabling Americans’ incomes to
stretch further. They stimulate investment, because a larger labor force raises
the return on capital. And their labor often complements the skills of American
workers. For example, a foreign nanny may enable an American doctor to go back
to work, where hard-working foreign nurses and cleaners enhance her
productivity. A recent study by the National Bureau of Economic Research in
Cambridge, Mass., finds that the influx of foreign workers between 1990 and 2004
raised the average wage of U.S.-born workers by 2 percent. Furthermore, immigrants’ children tend to be more successful
than most. Look at how Irish Americans, once dismissed as a degenerate drain on
society, have prospered. Latinos are already following in their footsteps. But the biggest benefits of immigration are inherently
unpredictable. Who would have guessed that, when they arrived in the United
States as children, Sergey Brin would one day cofound Google and Jerry Yang,
Yahoo? Who would have imagined that the son of a Kenyan who grew up herding
goats could be the next U.S. president? The only certainty is that, without a
green card, their chances of shining would have been dim.
|
