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Regarding migrations, one clarification. American society so far has demonstrated a tendency to alternate between mass migrations coming in from abroad, and ma

Regarding migrations, one clarification. American society so far has demonstrated a tendency to alternate between mass migrations coming in from abroad, and mass internal migrations. The last great internal migration was the 1940’s to 1970’s as cars and highways became widespread. The period of mass migration from abroad coming in happens in the mid 70’s with significant events being Vietnamese refugees in 1975 and Iranian refugees in 1979. The end of the Cold War meant the stopping of US support to many anti-communist dictators which also increased these numbers. I believe though it was a change in the immigration law in 1965 that made this possible, which reversed the quotas put in place in the mid 1920’s and established family unification as a priority. With that all being said though, it seems that mass migration from abroad has become more controlversial in the US, and perhaps we are entering the next great age of internal migrations.

joe_the_user 8y ago
Actually, American geographical mobility has declined significantly in the last twenty years with little end in sight. Obviously there are multiple factors but the significant difficulty of renting and finding a job in most place has to be one significant part. This article talks about the consequences but that there has been a decline is a given. https://equitablegrowth.org/the-consequences-and-causes-of-declining-geographic-mobility-in-the-united-states/ https://equitablegrowth.org/the-consequences-and-causes-of-d...
- jacobush 8y ago
  And social mobility has too declined.
- Bucephalus355 8y ago
  I think we’re in agreement on our points? Periods of mass external migration into the US also depress wages and make jobs tougher to compete for, which also hinders moving. The next phase of internal migration has begun / will begin soon but won’t be significant or peak for another 30 years.
  - pulisse 8y ago
    > Periods of mass external migration into the US also depress wages Empirically, this is not the case, at least in the long term[1]: > Empirical research in recent decades suggests that [...] when measured over a period of more than 10 years, the impact of immigration on the wages of natives overall is very small. (This is from a 2017 overview. The next few pages starting after the linked passage summarize the currently known evidence, if you're interested.) [1] https://www.nap.edu/read/23550/chapter/9#267 https://www.nap.edu/read/23550/chapter/9#267
    - patrickg_zill 8y ago
      George Borjas has pointed out that: Wage trends over the past half-century suggest that a 10 percent increase in the number of workers with a particular set of skills probably lowers the wage of that group by at least 3 percent. Even after the economy has fully adjusted, those skill groups that received the most immigrants will still offer lower pay relative to those that received fewer immigrants. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/09/trump-clinton-immigration-economy-unemployment-jobs-214216 https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/09/trump-clinto...
      - barrkel 8y ago
        Don't forget that some industries can't exist if there aren't enough workers. Density of human capital is sometimes a prerequisite to a sustainable business. For example, silicon valley would be much smaller and the net value of companies much lower if not for the global inflow of talent. Even if the average wage was reduced (and I doubt it, I think it's only likely for commodity labour, scale enables specialization which pays more) the total wage is much higher. You also need to look at the displacement effect - what happened to jobs with other sets of skills that now have fewer workers.
        drpgq 8y ago
        Would that necessarily be true? There would be a Google equivalent and a Facebook equivalent.
charlescearl 8y ago
> reversed quotas put in place in the mid 1920’s Is a very interesting way to put it. The Hart-Cellar act was decidedly about removing racialized immigration policy that was based upon the eugenics movement [1], it’s passage comes amid civil rights legislation. Indeed there are internal U.S. migrations taking place — over 10% of the U.S African American population left the southern states over the first half of the 20th century, the affordability of and relatively less overt oppression in the current U.S. south are driving a return [2]. [1] https://cis.org/Report/HartCeller-Immigration-Act-1965 https://cis.org/Report/HartCeller-Immigration-Act-1965 [2] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/08/opinion/sunday/racism-is-everywhere-so-why-not-move-south.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/08/opinion/sunday/racism-is-...

joe_the_user 8y ago

Actually, American geographical mobility has declined significantly in the last twenty years with little end in sight. Obviously there are multiple factors but the significant difficulty of renting and finding a job in most place has to be one significant part. This article talks about the consequences but that there has been a decline is a given. https://equitablegrowth.org/the-consequences-and-causes-of-declining-geographic-mobility-in-the-united-states/ https://equitablegrowth.org/the-consequences-and-causes-of-d...

jacobush 8y ago
And social mobility has too declined.
Bucephalus355 8y ago
I think we’re in agreement on our points? Periods of mass external migration into the US also depress wages and make jobs tougher to compete for, which also hinders moving. The next phase of internal migration has begun / will begin soon but won’t be significant or peak for another 30 years.
- pulisse 8y ago
  > Periods of mass external migration into the US also depress wages Empirically, this is not the case, at least in the long term[1]: > Empirical research in recent decades suggests that [...] when measured over a period of more than 10 years, the impact of immigration on the wages of natives overall is very small. (This is from a 2017 overview. The next few pages starting after the linked passage summarize the currently known evidence, if you're interested.) [1] https://www.nap.edu/read/23550/chapter/9#267 https://www.nap.edu/read/23550/chapter/9#267
  - patrickg_zill 8y ago
    George Borjas has pointed out that: Wage trends over the past half-century suggest that a 10 percent increase in the number of workers with a particular set of skills probably lowers the wage of that group by at least 3 percent. Even after the economy has fully adjusted, those skill groups that received the most immigrants will still offer lower pay relative to those that received fewer immigrants. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/09/trump-clinton-immigration-economy-unemployment-jobs-214216 https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/09/trump-clinto...
    - barrkel 8y ago
      Don't forget that some industries can't exist if there aren't enough workers. Density of human capital is sometimes a prerequisite to a sustainable business. For example, silicon valley would be much smaller and the net value of companies much lower if not for the global inflow of talent. Even if the average wage was reduced (and I doubt it, I think it's only likely for commodity labour, scale enables specialization which pays more) the total wage is much higher. You also need to look at the displacement effect - what happened to jobs with other sets of skills that now have fewer workers.
      - drpgq 8y ago
        Would that necessarily be true? There would be a Google equivalent and a Facebook equivalent.

charlescearl 8y ago

> reversed quotas put in place in the mid 1920’s Is a very interesting way to put it. The Hart-Cellar act was decidedly about removing racialized immigration policy that was based upon the eugenics movement [1], it’s passage comes amid civil rights legislation. Indeed there are internal U.S. migrations taking place — over 10% of the U.S African American population left the southern states over the first half of the 20th century, the affordability of and relatively less overt oppression in the current U.S. south are driving a return [2]. [1] https://cis.org/Report/HartCeller-Immigration-Act-1965 https://cis.org/Report/HartCeller-Immigration-Act-1965 [2] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/08/opinion/sunday/racism-is-everywhere-so-why-not-move-south.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/08/opinion/sunday/racism-is-...