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> There's a consensus amongst economists that immigration makes us financially better off. >> In aggregate, not individually. Great for those of us in the midd
by gmac 6y ago
> There's a consensus amongst economists that immigration makes us financially better off.
>> In aggregate, not individually. Great for those of us in the middle classes, but I have a lot of sympathy for those who see their low wages effectively pegged to minimum wage
There are two arguments here:
1. If an aggregate gain isn't being redistributed so we're all better off, that's a failure of the tax and benefits systems that politicians could (and I believe should) address.
2. But aside from that, there's good evidence that immigration simply doesn't hurt those earning least. See Esther Duflo, for example: studies "all come to the conclusion that the effect of low-skilled migration on low-skilled wages is zero". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1pZfFY132Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1pZfFY132Q
- aembleton 6y ago> "all come to the conclusion that the effect of low-skilled migration on low-skilled wages is zero" I haven't watched the video yet. But does she address the BoE paper? https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/working-paper/2015/the-impact-of-immigration-on-occupational-wages-evidence-from-britain https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/working-paper/2015/the-impac...
- Nursie 6y agoI've not time to watch a video now, but I would say that your second point isn't universally accepted - https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/the-labour-market-effects-of-immigration/ https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/th... "Empirical research on the labour market effects of immigration in the UK suggests that immigration has relatively small effects on average wages, with negative effects on low-paid workers and positive effects on high-paid workers." I'm going to presume that page is well sourced as it's associated with Oxford University. I don't disagree that many of the reasons people voted for Brexit were things that could have been addressed by the UK government in various ways. But they weren't, and Brussels Buck-passing was practically a parliamentary sport. Perhaps that can end now.