Recent U.S. Immigration: How Big? Who? What Impact? | Economics, Applied | Steven Davis, Wendy Edelberg and Madeline Zavodny | Hoover Institution

Host Steven Davis engages Wendy Edelberg and Madeline Zavodny to discuss the recent wave of U.S. immigration and some of its implications. They discuss the surge in immigration since 2021, the extent to which it reflects unlawful entry, its impact on employment growth, its fiscal consequences, and the failure of U.S. statistical authorities to accurately measure the scale of the surge in real time. They also provide historical context by comparing recent immigration waves from Latin America to past influxes from Europe and Asia. Lastly, the guests discuss potential policy changes to raise the economic benefits of immigration and address fiscal impacts on local governments.

For more episodes about immigration:

• The Political Reaction to Immigration
• Immigrants and Innovation in the United States

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:

Wendy Edelberg is a senior fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, where she directs the Hamilton Project. Previously, she served as Principal Chief Economist at the Congressional Budget Office and executive director of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. She worked for the President’s Council of Economic Advisers during two administrations. She co-chairs the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Climate and Macroeconomics Roundtable and is a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance. She earned her Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago.

Madeline Zavodny is the Donna L. Gibbs and First Coast Systems Professor of Economics at UNF. She is also a Research Fellow at the Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Fellow at the Global Labor Organization, and Adjunct Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Her research focuses on economic issues related to immigration, including Beside the Golden Door: U.S. Immigration Reform in a New Era of Globalization (AEI Press, 2010) and The Economics of Immigration (Routledge, 2015; 2nd ed. 2021). Before joining UNF she was a professor of economics at Agnes Scott College and Occidental College and an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. She earned her Ph.D. in Economics from MIT.

Steven Davis is the Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford Senior Fellow and Director of Research at the Hoover Institution, and Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR). He is an elected fellow of the Society of Labor Economists and a consultant to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. He co-founded the Economic Policy Uncertainty project, the U.S. Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes, the Global Survey of Working Arrangements, the Survey of Business Uncertainty, and the Stock Market Jumps project. He co-organizes the Asian Monetary Policy Forum, held annually in Singapore. Before joining Hoover, Davis was on the faculty at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

RELATED RESOURCES:

• New Immigration Estimates Help Make Sense of the Pace of Employment
• Waiting to work: employment among dependent spouses of H-1B visa holders in the U.S.
• Immigrants and Their Effects on Labor Market Outcomes of Natives
• Unprecedented U.S. Immigration Surge Boosts Job Growth, Output
• Public Education for Immigrant Students: Understanding Plyer v. Doe
• The Economics of Immigration

FOLLOW OUR SPEAKERS ON SOCIAL MEDIA:

• Wendy Edelberg: x.com/WendyEdelberg
• Madeline Zavodny: x.com/madelinezavodny