Mallaby, Penn & Teller on Immigration

Sebastian Mallaby’s Washington Post column today on immigration is simply outstanding. After providing evidence that hard‐​working people who have crossed the border without the state’s stamp of approval do not increase the rate of unemployment, cost the average taxpayer nothing, and at worst depress wages of native high school drop‐​outs by 9 percent, Mallaby makes the argument that many otherwise decent people seem unable to make: the well‐​being of immigrants counts, too:

[A]lthough the concern for high‐​school dropouts is welcome, it must be weighed against the aspirations of migrants. Is it right to push native workers’ pay up by 2 percent [a generous estimate of the gain from tighter restrictions on liberty of movement] if that means depriving poor Mexicans of a chance to triple their incomes?


Of course it isn’t, and given that the total economic effect of immigration on U.S. households is a wash, the big ramp‐​up in enforcement spending beloved by immigration hawks is an egregious waste of money. But no politician is going to say that.

Another excellent, and rather more entertaining, rejoinder to nativist hysteria is Penn and Teller’s new immigration episode of Bullsh*t, available here for your viewing pleasure.