Content Type: Working Paper / Publishing Institution: The Cato Institute / Topic: Immigration

Author:: Alex Nowrasteh, Andrew C. Forrester, and Michelangelo Landgrave
Publication Date:: 10-2020
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Cato Institute
Abstract:: Donald J. Trump launched his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination in June 2015 by comments on illegal immigrants and the crime they commit in the United States. “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you,” he said. “They’re sending people that have lots of problems and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists, and some, I assume, are good people.” A few weeks after Trump’s announcement, 32‐year‐old Kate Steinle was shot and killed by an illegal immigrant Jose Inez Garcıa Zarate in San Francisco, California. Although Zarate was later acquitted of all murder and manslaughter charges due to mistakes made by the prosecutor, his shooting of Steinle seemed to support Trump’s worry about illegal immigrants causing a crime spree and helped win him the election in 2016.
Topic:: Crime, Immigration, and Border Control
Political Geography:: North America, Texas, and United States of America

Author:: Alex Nowrasteh and Andrew C. Forrester
Publication Date:: 11-2020
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Cato Institute
Abstract:: Freer immigration could potentially lead to trillions of dollars in additional annual global output. However, the movement of many more immigrants could produce negative externalities that swamp the benefits, particularly if immigrants undermine productivity in their new countries by bringing with them the institutions or cultures that are responsible for low productivity in their home countries. We examine this by seeing how immigrants affect state budgets — a proxy for the quality of economic institutions — between 1970 and 2010 in the United States. We find that larger immigrant shares of the population produce large reductions in the growth of real per capita tax revenue and outlays in the short run that moderate to smaller longer‐term growth declines in both.
Topic:: Immigration, Economy, Immigrants, Tax Systems, Institutions, and Revenue Management
Political Geography:: North America and United States of America

Author:: Alex Nowrasteh
Publication Date:: 07-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Cato Institute
Abstract:: The fiscal impact of immigration-how immigrants and their descendants affect government budgets-is a widely debated and contentious issue. Economists overwhelmingly accept the economic gains of immigration, but are less certain about immigrants' impact on government budgets. Contention over this issue is fueled by the numerous methodologies and complexity of analysis that obscure the fiscal costs of immigration.
Topic:: Civil Society, Economics, Immigration, Governance, and Budget

Author:: Alex Nowrasteh
Publication Date:: 07-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Cato Institute
Abstract:: The fiscal impact of immigration—how immigrants and their descendants affect government budgets—is a widely debated and contentious issue. Economists overwhelmingly accept the economic gains of immigration, but are less certain about immigrants' impact on government budgets. Contention over this issue is fueled by the numerous methodologies and complexity of analysis that obscure the fiscal costs of immigration.
Topic:: Demographics, Economics, Immigration, and Budget

Author:: Benjamin Powell, Alex Nowrasteh, J. R. Clark, Robert A. Lawson, and Ryan H. Murphy
Publication Date:: 05-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Cato Institute
Abstract:: The economics literature generally finds a positive, but small, gain in income to native-born populations from immigrants and potentially large gains in world incomes. But immigrants can also impact a recipient nation's institutions. A growing empirical literature supports the importance of strong private property rights, a rule of law, and an environment of economic freedom for promoting long run prosperity. Although the literature on the impact of economic freedom on various social and economic outcomes is quite large, comparatively little work has tried to explain economic freedom as a dependent variable. This paper empirically examines how immigration impacts a region's policies and institutions. We find small but positive increases in institutional quality as a result of immigration.
Topic:: Economics, Human Welfare, International Trade and Finance, and Immigration

Author:: Leighton Ku and Brian Bruen
Publication Date:: 02-2013
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Cato Institute
Abstract:: Claims are sometimes made that immigrants use public benefits, such as Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families programs, more often than those who are born in the United States. This report provides analyses, using the most recent data from the Census Bureau, that counter these claims. In reality, low-income non-citizen immigrants, including adults and children, are generally less likely to receive public benefits than those who are native-born. Moreover, when non-citizen immigrants receive benefits, the value of benefits they receive is usually lower than the value of benefits received by those born in the United States. The combination of lower average utilization and smaller average benefits indicates that the overall cost of public benefits is substantially less for low-income non-citizen immigrants than for comparable native-born adults and children. The report also explains that the lower use of public benefits by non-citizen immigrants is not surprising, since federal rules restrict immigrants' eligibility for these public benefit programs.
Topic:: Economics, Health, Humanitarian Aid, Markets, and Immigration
Political Geography:: United States

Author:: Alex Nowrasteh
Publication Date:: 09-2012
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Cato Institute
Abstract:: Arizona's immigration laws have hurt its economy. The 2007 Legal Arizona Workers Act (LAWA) attempts to force unauthorized immigrants out of the workplace with employee regulations and employer sanctions. The 2010 Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neigh¬borhoods Act (SB 1070) complements LAWA by granting local police new legal tools to enforce Ari¬zona's immigration laws outside of the workplace.
Topic:: Political Economy, Labor Issues, Immigration, and Law
Political Geography:: United States and Arizona

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