Economics Favor More Immigration, Not Less, Speakers Say

Despite the current political rhetoric surrounding immigration, economic studies for the most part find that the U.S. stands to make strong economic gains from increasing rather than decreasing immigration, speakers said Jan. 6.

“The gains that economists predict from moving to a world of open borders are just jaw-droppingly staggering,” according to Benjamin Powell, director of the Free Market Institute at Texas Tech University. Powell, who is also a Texas Tech economics professor and senior fellow with the Independent Institute, spoke during an event sponsored by the libertarian Cato Institute about The Economics of Immigration: Market-Based Approaches, Social Science, and ...