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Immigration Economics by George J. Borjas: A Review Essay

  • David Card
  • Giovanni Peri
Journal of Economic Literature
vol. 54, no. 4, December 2016
(pp. 1333-49)
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Abstract

We review Immigration Economics by George J. Borjas, published in 2014 by Harvard University Press. The book is written as a graduate-level textbook, and summarizes and updates many of Borjas's important contributions to the field over the past thirty years. A key message of the book is that immigration poses significant costs to many members of the host-country labor market. Though the theoretical and econometric approaches presented in the book will be very useful for students and specialists in the field, we argue that the book presents a one-sided view of immigration, with little or no attention to the growing body of work that offers a more nuanced picture of how immigrants fit into the host-country market and affect native workers.

Citation

Card, David, and Giovanni Peri. 2016. "Immigration Economics by George J. Borjas: A Review Essay." Journal of Economic Literature, 54 (4): 1333-49. DOI: 10.1257/jel.20151248

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • A22 Economic Education and Teaching of Economics: Undergraduate
  • J11 Demographic Trends, Macroeconomic Effects, and Forecasts
  • J24 Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
  • J31 Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
  • J61 Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
  • R23 Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics: Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population; Neighborhood Characteristics