In discussing how to help Haiti, Tino explains why opening our doors to low-skill immigrants may not be a good idea — even if it was a good idea in the past:
- The most through and investigations of the fiscal impacts of immigration, by the prestigious National Research Council, found that low-skill immigration costs $120,000 per immigrant, in 2009 dollars. They even used the over-optimistic assumption that immigrants 100% converged to natives in 3 generations (not true empirically).
- Low skill immigration in 1850 was not a problem, because almost everyone was low skilled, and there was a strong demand for low skilled workers in agriculture and industry. Today because of technology there is almost no demand for low skilled workers. The biggest problem in America is plight of the low-skilled underclass.
- There was no welfare state in 1850.
- There was no ideology of multiculturalism in 1850. People assimilated. Today immigrants do not assimilate, and are encouraged by the education system and media to keep their culture and language.
- Transportation and communication costs made sure that only people who accepted to cut ties with their home country immigrated. This is no longer true.