November 2015

IZA Policy Paper No. 108: Managing Immigration in the 21st Century

forthcoming in: Borjas/Chiswick, Foundations of Migration Economics (edited by Constant/Zimmermann), IZA Prize Book Series, OUP

In this paper I share my thoughts on immigration policy. As a social scientist it is appropriate to assess the consequences, the costs and benefits, of alternative immigration policies. The policies that a country adopts regarding immigration, however, should be the outcome of a political process which should be informed by, but not dictated by, social science research. What follows is a non-technical discussion of what I see as some of the key issues regarding immigration policies currently facing the United States and other technologically advanced economies.