In a current substack put up, David Friedman factors out an issue with judging immigrants solely by their fiscal influence. His evaluation is so clear that it’s value reposting a part of it. Right here it’s:
What’s weird about [Emil] Kierkegaard’s argument is that he identifies fiscal influence with contribution to society, writing, on the idea of calculations of fiscal influence:
There isn’t any age at which this group contributes extra to society than it receives.
What he means is “contributes extra to the state than it receives.” That isn’t the identical factor.
Suppose the Danish authorities is working a light deficit. A plague kills everybody in Denmark. Since no one is both paying taxes or receiving authorities companies, internet authorities income has elevated from a adverse worth to zero. By Kierkegaard’s definition, Danish society is now higher off.
For a extra sensible instance of the purpose think about that the US allows plenty of Mexican immigrants. Their internet fiscal influence is adverse; my taxes go up by a thousand {dollars} a yr to cowl the fiscal loss. My capability to rent immigrants to scrub my home, mow my garden, trim my bushes, restore my home, none of which was value the price of doing earlier than they arrived, makes me higher off by two thousand {dollars} a yr, and equally for different People. The immigrants’ internet contribution to society is optimistic despite the fact that their contribution to authorities income is adverse.
There could also be results within the different route as nicely. If the immigrants commit plenty of violent crime that decreases their contribution to society whether or not or not it decreases authorities income. Determining the online contribution of immigrants, or anybody else, to a society is a tough drawback. That’s no excuse for calculating the contribution to internet authorities income and utilizing that as a substitute.
Nicely stated.
The article “Immigration” in David R. Henderson, ed., The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics is by immigration skeptic George J. Borjas. He estimates each the features to “natives” from interplay with immigrants within the labor market and the losses to “natives” from larger welfare prices.
The pic above is of David Friedman.