Beyond the Fence

Since 2020, several million people have crossed the U.S. Southwest border as inadmissible migrants. Voters have demanded a change in U.S. policy toward these migrants. This talk will set out the three fundamental options the U.S. government faces, and discuss advantages and disadvantages of each from an economic perspective, offering an opinionated overview of some of the latest and most relevant research in economics from an active participant in that research. It will argue that a balanced policy of enforcement combined with expanded lawful channels for migration best serves the national interest in policy that is welfare enhancing, politically supportable, and administratively feasible. 

 

Michael A. Clemens is a full professor in the Department of Economics at George Mason University and a nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. He studies the economic causes and effects of migration all over the world, and designs new institutions to regulation migration for mutual benefit.