DP Tool Club 24/CD_ASCQ_24_0995.iso/vrac/liberty.zip/12.TXT

Text File | 1995-07-02 | 13KB | 265 lines

###################################################################

              IMMIGRATION: AN OPEN OR CLOSED DOOR?
                      by Geoffrey Erikson

###################################################################

                        THE NEW COLOSSUS
                        by Emma Lazarus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed sunset gates shall stand
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep your ancient lands, your storied pomp!"
cries she With silent lips.
"Give me your tired, your poor,
your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Inscription at the base of the Statue of Liberty


FEAR VS. HOPE
Certainly one of the most controversial topics of debate in the
political arena -- anywhere in the world -- is the topic of immigration.
On the question of immigration policy, opinions range from "open door"
advocates of free immigration to "closed door" advocates of zero
immigration, and every shade of the spectrum in between.

Most Americans fall somewhere in the middle. They recognize, that unless
they are Native Americans, their ancestors were once immigrants. They
also realize that political refugees who flee to the United States to
escape totalitarian regimes in their native lands do so because the U.S.
has a reputation of freedom. Most Americans, being proud of that
reputation, feel asylum is appropriate. Yet many fear immigrants, and
most believe there is a point beyond which immigrants should not be
allowed to enter the country.

What are the real effects of immigration on society and the economy?
Does an anti-immigration policy really "save America for Americans"?
What sort of immigration policy is fair, just and sound?

THE MELTING POT
The United States in the 19th Century experienced the biggest wave of
immigration of any place or period in the history of the world, yet also
saw the greatest growth in production and the standard of living in the
history of the world. Most historians and economists agree that this was
no coincidence.

Although there was a massive influx of people, it did not eliminate
jobs. In addition to being workers, these immigrants were also
consumers, creating a greater demand for manufactured goods. Since these
new workers saved and invested their money, which created greater
investment capital, they helped to finance more production and a larger
job market.

The misinformation surrounding immigration is based on the misconception
that the amount of wealth in a country is static. Many people imagine
that there is only so much money to go around, and the fewer people in
the country, the more wealth there will be for each person. However,
this myth falls apart when examined closely.

The larger the work force, the more there is being produced. Greater
production means greater wealth. Since, in a market economy, workers
produce for trade rather than for personal consumption, they produce
more then they consume. This means that the amount of wealth will expand
beyond the number of people who immigrate -- which means more wealth per
person, not less.

WHY THEN DO PEOPLE RESIST IMMIGRATION?

THE BENEFITS OF DIVERSITY
One of the problems is simply xenophobia or fear of strangers. Many
people are afraid of people who are different than themselves. Yet
historically, immigrants have brought numerous benefits despite, or
maybe even because of, their differences.

Consider the arts, which are unique in America because of the influence
of ethnic and cultural diversity. The entertainment industry in America
is by far the largest such industry in the world. This can be attributed
largely to immigrants. Many of the major movie studios were started by
immigrants or their children. Entertainers from the Marx Brothers to
Desi Arnaz to Mel Gibson came from around the world to be part of the
entertainment industry in the U.S. Not only has this created thousands
of jobs both for natives and immigrants, it is also a major export
industry, bringing in hundreds of millions of foreign dollars annually.

American musicians are exposed to a broad range of "native" music from
various ethnic sources. Even such commonplace services as restaurants
offer an amazing number of choices in ethnic cuisine. The reason is
cultural diversity -- a benefit of immigration.

The benefits of variety, however, go beyond consumer and aesthetic
pleasures. Variety is a key ingredient of invention. Immigrants also
stimulate natives to produce more and to be more innovative in order to
adapt to a more diverse market mix.

OPEN DOOR TO OPPORTUNITY
The material wealth of the immigrant upon arrival is not an important
factor. While it is true that wealthy immigrants spend more money than
poor immigrants initially, many poor immigrants become wealthy due to
their vigorous pursuit of the opportunities offered by a more
free-market economy. U.S. history is filled with names of poor
immigrants who started out pushing a cart through the streets of New
York City. People with names like Macy, Marriot and Bill Graham, who
went on to become builders of major businesses, or a certain Mr. Azimov,
who earned enough money selling candy from a pushcart to send his son
Isaac to school. History shows many examples of the wealth immigrants
bring to a country.

These observations are not limited to history. Statistics from modern
day Hong Kong reveal similar trends. After thirty years of a very open
immigration policy, wages in Hong Kong continue to rise rapidly. A
report in 1993 showed the per-capita income in Hong Kong to have
exceeded $18,000; a far greater increase than anywhere else in Asia or
most of Western Europe. Despite the great numbers of immigrants that
enter Hong Kong every year, there is still a labor shortage. Positions
for jobs such as receptionists go unfilled because most people can
easily find higher-paying jobs.

A CLOSER LOOK
A close examination of the charges leveled against immigration turns up
a number of myths. Noted economist Dr. Julian Simon, author of The
Economic Consequences of Immigration, puts the lie to several common
claims:

** IMMIGRANTS TAKE JOBS AWAY FROM NATIVES.

FALSE: "A solid body of studies shows that, contrary to [nativist]
assertions, immigrants do not increase native unemployment:

-- Thomas Muller of the Urban Institute compared the labor-market
conditions in Los Angeles with those in the rest of the U.S. The influx
of immigrants in Southern California affected native unemployment
"little, if at all," he said.

-- Thomas Espenshade of Princeton and Muller found that in West Coast
metropolitan areas "Black unemployment rates are not increased -- if
anything they are decreased -- by a rise in the proportion of Mexican
immigrants.

-- Joseph G. Altonji of Northwestern and David Card of Princeton studied
the effect of immigrants of less-skilled natives in various cities. They
concluded, "We find little evidence that inflows of immigrants are
associated with large or systematic effects on the employment or
unemployment rates of less skilled natives."

"No research has shown noticeable unemployment caused by immigrants,
either in the United States as a whole, or in particular areas of high
immigration. One reason is that potential immigrants have considerable
awareness of labor-market conditions here and tend not to come if their
skills are in small demand. At the same time, immigrants increase the
demand for labor across the range of occupations; they consume goods and
services as well as produce them. In the long run, they create as many
jobs with their spending as they themselves occupy.

"Immigrants not only create new jobs with their spending, they do so
directly with the new businesses that they are more likely than natives
to start. A Canadian government survey, which should also describe U.S.
experience, found that almost 5% -- 91 of the 1746 single males and 291
single females -- had started their own businesses within their first 3
years in Canada. Not only did they employ themselves, they employed
others too, 'creating' a total of 606 jobs." Thus, roughly 1 in 3 new
jobs were created as well as held by immigrants.


** IMMIGRANTS ABUSE THE WELFARE SYSTEM.

FALSE: "Solid evidence gives the lie to this charge. The most important
fact about immigrants is that they typically arrive when they are young
and healthy. Hence they use fewer welfare services on average than do
native families. New cohorts do not receive expensive Social Security,
Medicare and other aid to the aged. And for its first several decades in
America, the average immigrant family pays more in taxes than does the
average native family. Altogether, the immigrant family contributes
yearly about $2,500 more in taxes to the public coffers than it obtains
in services."


** ILLEGALS ARE FLOODING ACROSS OUR BORDERS TO GET ON OUR WELFARE SYSTEM

FALSE: "The case of illegal immigrants is more stark. Due to their
status, illegals such as Mexicans who cross into the United States get
little in welfare services. David North and Marion Houston of
Trans-Century Corporation -- a consulting firm -- found these
proportions of illegals using services: free medical care, 5%;
unemployment insurance, 4%; food stamps, 1%; welfare payments, 1%, child
schooling, 4%. Practically no illegals receive Social Security -- the
costliest program of all -- but 77% paid social security taxes, and 73%
had federal income taxes withheld."


THE GREATEST BENEFIT OF ALL
Immigrants bring with them the greatest of all benefits: human capital.
As Dr. Simon put it, "Though hard to nail down, the long-run benefits on
productivity of these additional workers and consumers are likely to
dwarf all other effects. Some of the productivity increase comes form
immigrants working in industries that are at the forefront of world
technique. We benefit along with others from the contribution to world
productivity in, say, genetic engineering, that immigrants would not be
able to make in their home countries. More immigrants mean more working
persons to think up productivity-enhancing ideas. As Soichiro Honda (of
motorcycle and auto fame) said, 'Where 100 people think, there are 100
powers; where 1000 people think, there are 1000 powers.' Moreover, an
immigrant's facility with languages other than English is often valuable
for industry in, for instance, export projects."

"Other increases in productivity -- about which we have more solid
evidence -- come from increased production in particular industries
through learning-by-doing and other gains from larger industry scale.
Also, increasing the number of customers and workers increases
investment, which brings more new technology into use. Perhaps the
greatest contribution of immigrants is the push they give to this
country's vitality and growth. They contribute to the vitality of our
institutions because they tend to be more intellectually vigorous as
well as harder-working than natives. How much of this vigor is due to
being 'hungry' rather than settled and affluent, how much due to their
being self-selected for vigor among the populations they come from, and
how much due to the stimulating effects of living in the tension of two
cultures are open questions, but not crucial in this policy context."

When all of the benefits are examined, it is clear that the best policy
on immigration is an open door. Considering the many benefits open
immigration has to offer, it is unfair that immigrants are being used as
scapegoats for the governmentÆs many job-killing policies and economic
interventions.

Geoffrey Erikson is a staff writer, editor and researcher with the
International Society for Individual Liberty.

                          RECOMMENDED READING

The Economic Consequences of Immigration (Simon) .......... $24.95
The Immigration Dilemma (Fraser Inst. Publ) ............... $19.95

For these and other books and tapes write: Freedom's Forum Books, 1800
Market Street, San Francisco, California 94102. Add $2.50 P & H for 1st
book and $1.00 for each additional item.

Hard copies of this two-color pamphlet are available for 5 cents each
(minimum order $1.00). Price includes shipping.

This pamphlet is produced as a public service by the International
Society for Individual Liberty. If you would like to receive free
literature about ISIL's activities around the world, and receive a
sample copy of the FREEDOM NETWORK NEWS newsletter and book catalog,
please write:

          INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY
     1800 Market Street, San Francisco, California 94102 USA
            Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone]