Thread: Understanding Immigration: The Role of Incentives

http://questingforatlantis.com/2010/04/ ... ncentives/

Understanding Immigration: The Role of Incentives
2 04 2010

If the whole of economics were to be boiled down to a single sentence, it is this:

Incentives matter.

This seems like common sense, but it’s something people lose sight of all too easily. Back in the 20′s people had the genius idea that making booze illegal wouldn’t create a strong incentive to sell it illegally.

Well things aren’t any different today. Whether the issue is bailouts, health reform, taxes, or welfare, people (on both sides of the aisle) seem to consistently forget about the role of incentives with regards to their proposed policies.

Immigration is no different.

When considering immigration there are three distinct incentives at play;

* The incentive to come immigrate.
* The disincentive to come legally.
* The disincentive to come illegally.

While your average foreigner contemplating emigrating to America may not consciously think about these factors, it is the interplay of the four that govern the patterns and nature of immigration to America, both legal and illegal. If we want to have any hope of changing that pattern, then we need to think about the nature of these incentives and what can be done to shift them to achieve a more desirable pattern.

* The incentive to immigrate.

The incentive to immigrate is pretty simple. It’s economic opportunity. While I’m no expert on the issue, I would argue that America’s relatively lax regulatory state (compared to other developed nations) and the attempt to maintain at least the pretense of a free economy lead to significantly reduced barriers to entry in many sectors of the economy and immigrants are drawn to these sort of opportunities. The fact that so many people want to come to America is proof of that.

As I’m sure some will note, I didn’t address the division between legal and illegal immigration. This is deliberate. On a fundamental level, the economic incentive to immigrate is the same for both legal and illegal immigration. The only element that differs between them is that as the incentive to do the one increases (due to a diminishing of its balancing disincentive) the incentive to engage in the other decreases. In simpler terms, as the incentive to legal immigration decreases due to increased disincentives to legal immigration, the economic return on illegal immigration increases, making the incentive stronger.

* The disincentive to immigrate legally.

This point is huge, and I don’t think anywhere near enough people are aware of it.

The simple fact is that legally immigrating to America is a monumental affair. First you have to get a visa. This a huge hurdle in and of itself. Look to our southern neighbor; I would wager that most people don’t know to apply for a visa to come to America from Mexico you must go to Ciudad Juarez – the 2nd most dangerous city on earth.

And then looking beyond that, there is the huge visa backlog:

Okay, the bottom line numbers? Bad, very bad. The total Family Numbers waiting for a priority date: 3,369,455, including 1,727,897 in the Brother and Sister (FB-4) category. At the 65,000 annual number level for that category, that is a 26.5 year wait (ignoring per country limits). The total Employment Numbers awaiting a priority date: 130,509, including 119,759 in the EB-3 category. This is at least a 3-4 year wait (again, ignoring per country limits). So, 3.5 million people waiting in line, or is it? The reality is worse. These do NOT include the those cases pending at USCIS!

If we ad in the numbers pending at USCIS (as best we know them), the situation is far more grave. Family based petitions pending at USCIS in June 2009 (no new numbers are easily available), were 1.1 million, bring the total backlog to 4,400,000 for family cases. Employment based cases pending at USCIS in June 2009 numbered 80,000. This bring the total up to 210,000 for EB-3 cases. Wow!

Now, assuming you manage to get a visa, you’re still not done. According to data put together by the Reason Foundation, you’re looking at anywhere from 6 years (best case scenario) to as many as 28 years to become a citizen of the United States.

That’s just the beginning. I’ve already said more on this than I’ve planned, and I haven’t even touched on the massive financial costs to coming legally and the nightmare that is the American immigration bureaucracy.

The bottom line is that we currently have a huge disincentive to come legally (remember that, it’s coming back later in the post). Anyone who tells you otherwise is either ignorant or a liar.

* The disincentive to illegal immigration.

This is the “increased enforcementâ€

I'm not real sure what to think about what this guy is saying.
I agree somewhat about how hard it is to immigrate to the US legally but I don't see the advantage to the illegal immigration because it seems to me to have more pitfalls. From what I've seen, illegals often end up in the long run, paying smugglers twice as much or more time and money when they are repeatedly caught and deported.
Kind of like people I know who will spend three times more trying to save.

This leaves us with only 1 option if we are serious about reducing illegal immigration – reduce the disincentive to legal immigration.

Here's the problem I have with that: how many people exactly would we like to legally admit to the U.S.? If every person who sneaked across the border were admitted legally, plus every person who WANTED to sneak across the border but didn't, how many would that be? Are we prepared to admit the entire population of Mexico? Or would we prefer to pick and choose who should enter the U.S.? Would we prefer educated future citizens who will contribute to our society or uneducated peasants who are here for the benefits? And if we admit only educated, contributing members of society, what's keeping poor Mexican and South Americans from hopping the fence?

In my opinion, regardless of how they enter.....the Mexican incentive is the welfare and tax benefits. And I think that applies to the rich and poor people.
The rich people may immigrate legally but their purpose from what I've seen is to use one country or the other depending on whatever it is that they are attempting to gain. I've seen plenty of wealthy Mexicans getting those welfare benefits. Thanks to their buddies who occupy and run the offices where they are applying for them.

I was checking out this ignoramuses site, and after finding this OMG I couldn't stop laughing!!


"Resume

In case you didn’t know, I’m currently seeking out a job. If you know anyone who might be hiring (or if you’re an employer yourself), please feel free to let me know and/or pass along my resume to them."



So what do you call this, total liberal/progressive disconnect?

I was kind of taken back by the fact the guy was like 22. How knowledgeable can he be?

Notice how this guy does not talk about reducing the "incentives" to enter this country illegally!Besides, It should be hard to come to immigrate to this country legally! So what if it is! We are under no obligation to let anyone in! It's not your right to come here simply because you want to!

I want to go to an academy awards presentation (not really, but it sounds like a good analogy). If I just show up at the front door are they obligated to let me in because I want to attend? Maybe they should increase the number of people they allow in because so many people want to attend. Who cares if there's not enough seats in the building to accomodate all in attendance. Ditto for popcorn and hotdogs to eat!

Perhaps I should just bypass a ticket altogether and sneak in the backdoor of the building because it's so expensive to get tickets and takes forever to find them, even if I could find someone who could help me out. Once in, I can sit anywhere I want and it doesn’t matter if I take the seat of someone who already spent thousands of dollars and perhaps years trying to get that seat. My wants are all that matter because it’s my right to attend this event!

And if you refuse me the right to occupy that seat then you're nothing but a racist, xenophobe, and nativist!

Sound familiar to anyone?

Good analogy NoBueno but you forgot the part at the end where you say:

And I will also hire Gloria Allred and come after you!