Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Economists say every immigrant is a net economic positive to the nation. They eat,buy food clothing, cars. Every immigrant child is a net negative to the state,at least until they turn 18. But it isn't even. Net neg per kid of maybe 800 a year, positive of each adult of 1200-1600 are the numbers I've heard on freakonomics podcast. Their guests proposed solution was to have the feds pay the states per an immigrant child to offset who bears the costs. I don't think it's even a debatable position that each immigrant is a net economic positive, in the long term. Some political groups worrying about losing their culture is a completely different kettle of fish.

https://www.bushcenter.org/catalyst/north-american-century/b...



This net economic benefit of immigrants varies based on their background and skill sets. In Denmark for example, MENA immigrants are a net drain throughout their entire productive work lives.

https://web.archive.org/web/20240111003833/https://www.econo...


Only because Denmark does a bad job of integrating immigrants.

In countries like the US that are good at integrating immigrants, they are a huge net positive.


> Economists say every immigrant is a net economic positive to the nation

This isn’t true in general and depends on the local economy and the immigrants country of origin. MENA migrants are a net loss for Germany, for example.

Even if economists agree, the money these immigrants spend lands in the pockets of rich capitalists.

The entire topic is far more nuanced than you make it out to be.


Do you have some sources for your claim that MENA migrants are a net loss for Germany?



> https://www.bushcenter.org

Is this some propaganda website by Bush to promote neocon values?


> Economists say every immigrant is a net economic positive to the nation

Does that not fail your smell test?

EVERY immigrant?



> Economists say every immigrant is a net economic positive to the nation.

This can only be true if they sustain themselves on their own work. An immigrant that does not work and only lives on subsidies can hardly be called a net positive.


This is not behavior exclusive to immigrants though. Either way the welfare state is not very strong in the US. There are 75,000 homeless people in LA county for example.


There's an enormous welfare state in the US through what is essentially jobs programs.

Health insurance companies, for example, are a negative drain on society, yet they employ hundreds of thousands of workers, in what can only be explained as a make-work program for pointless bureaucracy.

Lots of this in the DOD as well. And the homeless program administrators, which you mentioned.

It's just not explicit welfare to the poorest of the poor and there are a few implicit steps, because otherwise it looks bad.


When people think “welfare state” I don’t think they are imagining jobs in civil service…




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: