Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Immigration in the news again

Today the Senate voted to resume debate on the immigration bill, but we will have to see whether enough back-room deals can be cut to keep it afloat.

Meanwhile, on Nick Kristof's blog appears an article about doctors, training, and brain drain in Africa, or essentially an emigration issue that is something like the reverse of what the U.S. is currently grappling with.

When it is in individuals' best interests to relocate but it may be socially undesirable --- meaning either that immigrants take jobs or leave holes in their home economies --- what do you do? Erect barriers to entry? It sounds wacky, but economists would probably suggest some kind of entry tax or "stay-put" subsidy to stem undesired flows of migration.