Title: 4 Immigration's Effects on Jobs and Wages: First Principles | The New Americans: Economic, Demographic, and Fiscal Effects of Immigration | The National Academies Press
Headings: 4
Immigration's Effects on Jobs and Wages: First Principles

4
Immigration's Effects on Jobs and Wages: First Principles
First Principles: Labor Market Effects of Immigration
Baseline Analysis
Model Extensions
Immigration and Trade
Returns to Scale, Bottlenecks, and Externalities
Plausible Magnitudes of Effects
Growth And Immigration
Growth and Immigration in Historical Context
A Simple Framework for Economic Growth
Immigration in the Simple Framework
Persistence of the Effects of Immigration on Growth
Changes in Technology
Immigration and Changes in Technology
The Impact of Immigration on Income, Wealth, and Growth
Conclusions
References
Appendix 4.A
Immigration in the Two-Good, Two-Factor Model
Appendix 4.B
Assessing the Labor Market Benefits and Costs of Immigration

Content: Chapter 5 focuses on the empirical evidence concerning the role of immigrants in the labor market. The issues covered range over the changing relative economic status of immigrants, their ability to assimilate economically, the effects of immigration on the wages and employment of native-born workers, and the impact of immigration on the prices of goods and services. First Principles: Labor Market Effects of Immigration
Whether native-born Americans gain or lose, immigration most directly affects the welfare of immigrants themselves. Immigrants come with the expectation that they will gain from immigration. If they had not felt that they would gain, they were free not to immigrate. Economic betterment is only one of many reasons why immigrants come here. Some may come expecting economic loss, but this must be offset by higher perceived gains in other things they value, like political freedom or reunion with their families. These gains are all before the fact. It may turn out that some immigrants are disappointed with life in their new country and some who fail to realize a gain return to their country of origin.