Abstract
Immigration remains a high-profile topic within U.S. politics, and indeed within a broader public debate. Reflecting this, the United States has long struggled with defining a consistent immigration policy that structures immigration flows and clearly defines its admission priorities. More often than not, the attention of policy makers, government officials, and the popular press is fixated on undocumented immigrants and family reunification policies. Lost among this debate is the admission of highly skilled immigrants such as doctors and information technology professionals into the United States, a group of immigrants that represents an increasing share of the American labor force, and upon which the Trump administration has placed greater emphasis, given arguments that the highly skilled and educated enable the growth of the economy and, especially, the high-tech sector. Such questions are particularly relevant given an aging American population, shrinking labor force, population decline, and growing need for highly educated immigrants.
Despite their potential role within the labor market and their contribution to economic growth, there are unanswered questions associated with their arrival. For example, do high-skilled immigrants reduce the wages of U.S.-born workers? Do they contribute to overall economic growth? Do they displace the native-born in the labor market? High-Skilled Migration to the United States and Its Economic Consequences tackles these and other questions. The volume does this by drawing on different economic perspectives to look at the impact of high-skilled immigration on topics including innovation, productivity, comparative advantage, and the response of multinational firms. In short, the bulk of the work demonstrates that high-skilled immigration is associated with increased innovation and economic growth benefiting the American economy.
The book is structured around an introduction and six substantive chapters. Following the introduction, the first three chapters focus on specific questions. For example, the first chapter by Hanson and Liu looks at the sorting of immigrants and the native-born by occupation, finding that the patterns are largely stable over time, origin, and nationality. The implication is that the composition of immigration flows into the United States is largely determined by the reliance on source countries such as India or China. In the second chapter, Yeaple examines how firms use different visa types, finding that large multinational firms are more likely to use L visas (which have fewer restrictions), while smaller firms are typically more likely to use the H-1B visa program, which typically faces greater constraints on the number of visas available. Ultimately, Yeaple suggests that firms with greater access to immigrants can increase the demand for high-skilled native-born workers. The third chapter by Horton et al. explores the realm of digital labor markets such as Upwork. In contrast to the physical mobility of international migrants, digital labor markets provide an alternate platform for firms to draw on international labor without the restrictions associated with visa numbers. Interestingly, they conclude that digital markets are complementary to physical immigration flows.
The final three chapters focus on the macroeconomic impacts of immigration and directly address how high-skilled immigration affects economic growth and earnings. Using general equilibrium models, Bound et al. (chapter 5) explore the relationship between high-skilled immigration and low-skilled workers in terms of earnings, consumption, and economic growth, concluding that U.S. native-born workers benefited from high-skilled immigration through the growth of wages, lower prices, and increased output. Furthermore, they noted that U.S.-born workers tended to shift out of the computer science sector. Jaimovich and Siu (chapter 6) focus on immigrants working in innovation activities and wage inequality, with their findings identifying increased inequality in the distribution of earnings. Finally, the chapter by Waugh furthers the macroeconomic dynamics, finding that while high-skilled immigration has short-term impacts on wages, it increases consumption and income over the long term.
The chapters are well written and argued, and they are of equivalent academic quality to those found in high-impact, peer-reviewed journals. Make no mistake—these are substantive contributions to the literature. Given its focus and disciplinary specialization, the book will be of particular interest to economists, regional scientists, and others who are well versed in the economic literature and econometric methods. However, I have two broad complaints. First, the book could benefit from a longer introduction, with the editors providing greater context to the issue of high-skilled immigration within the framework of U.S. immigration policy. Furthermore, how other countries have directly targeted high-skilled immigrants for economic growth, along with insights from other countries on the economic implications of high-skilled migration, would also enhance the book’s introduction. Some of this information, such as the type of visas that are available to immigrants, immigration statistics such as the number of visas issued, and the distribution of high-skilled immigrants by occupation or origin, is embedded in the substantive chapters. The reader, however, must search for it and be prepared to piece the information together over several chapters, if the reader wants to put this topic within a wider context. Second, while the work presented in this volume is potentially policy relevant, it will be of less immediate value to policy makers given its economic focus and writing style. That is, the chapters do not adequately tackle questions of relevancy and policy in an accessible and open format. However, as the editors’ note, the intention of the volume is also to stimulate additional research in the area, and ultimately to contribute to evidence-based policy making and decisions.