Immigration Economics

Conference
September 2, 2016 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM EDT

Hayek Auditorium, Cato Institute

Immigration is one of the most controversial public policy topics today. On one hand, tens of millions of immigrants and their children are assimilating and integrating into American economic life. On the other, concerns about immigrants and how they will affect the economic future of Americans and our nation as a whole is one of the best predictors of support for Donald Trump, the 2016 Republican Presidential candidate. Unfortunately, many of those concerns are fueled by misunderstanding the effects that immigrants and their descendants have on the U.S. economy. This special conference, timed just prior to the Presidential election, brings together some of the best minds and researchers on the economics of immigration to help inform Americans and to guide policymakers.

Major topics that will be covered include:

  • How immigration affects wages and the labor market.
  • What factors incentivize and slow unauthorized immigration.
  • Immigration’s impact on the real-estate market and entrepreneurship.
  • How immigration affects America’s political and economic institutions.
     

Please join our distinguished speakers on Friday, September 2, to discuss these and related issues.

8:30–9:00AM Registration
 
9:00–9:10AM Welcoming Remarks

Alex Nowrasteh, Immigration Policy Analyst, Cato Institute
 
9:15–10:45AM Panel 1: Labor and Wages


Giovanni Peri, Professor and Department Chair, Department of Economics, University of California, Davis
Ethan Lewis, Associate Professor, Economics Department, Dartmouth College
Alan de Brauw, Senior Research Fellow in the Markets, Trade, and Institutions Division, International Food Policy Research Institute
Moderated by David Roodman, Senior Advisor, Open Philanthropy
 
10:45–11:05AM Break
 
11:05AM–12:05PM Panel 2: Illegal Immigration


Douglas S. Massey, Henry G. Bryant Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs, Princeton University
Bryan Roberts, Research Economist, previously with the Department of Homeland Security
Moderated by Philip E. Wolgin, Managing Director, Immigration Policy, Center for American Progress
 
12:05–12:50PM Lunch
 
12:50–2:00PM Panel 3: Immigration and Real Estate


Gary D. Painter, Professor and Director of Social Policy, University of Southern California Sol Price Center for Social Innovation
Jacob Vigdor, Daniel J. Evans Professor of Public Policy and Governance, University of Washington
Susan M. Wachter, Albert E. Sussman Professor of Real Estate, the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Moderated by Mark Calabria, Director of Financial Regulation Studies, Cato Institute
 
2:00–3:00PM Panel 4: Entrepreneurship


Margaret Blume-Kohout, Visiting Faculty, Department of Economics, Colgate University
Magnus Lofstrom, Senior Fellow, Public Policy Institute of California
Moderated by Brink Lindsey, Vice President for Research, Cato Institute
 
3:00–3:20PM Break
 
3:20–4:50PM Panel 5: How Immigration Affects Political and Economic Institutions


Michael Clemens, Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development
Ryan Murphy, Research Assistant Professor, O’Neil Center, Southern Methodist University
Benjamin Powell, Director, Free Market Institute, Texas Tech University
Moderated by Alex Nowrasteh, Immigration Policy Analyst, Cato Institute
 
4:50–5:00PM Closing Remarks
 
5:00–5:30PM Reception
 
 
If you can’t make it to the event, you can watch it live online at www.cato.org/live and join the conversation on Twitter using #CatoImmigration. Follow @CatoEvents on Twitter to get future event updates, live streams, and videos from the Cato Institute.