Bob Murphy Show Ep. 415 Alex Nowrasteh Explains the Data and Theory Behind His SoHo Forum Immigration Performance
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Jun 11, 2025 Alex Nowrasteh, Vice President for Economic and Social Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, tackles the intricacies of immigration policy. He discusses the relationship between immigration and welfare, revealing how context shapes benefits usage. Nowrasteh examines the economic impacts of various immigration models and debunks myths about immigrants influencing socialism in the U.S. The conversation also covers immigrant voting dynamics and offers insights into anarcho-capitalism's take on immigration, emphasizing the need for reevaluating current policies.
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Immigrants' Welfare Use Varies by Status
- Immigrants overall use less welfare than native-born Americans, but naturalized immigrants consume more due to older age profiles.
- Non-citizen immigrants use the least welfare, highlighting variations in fiscal impact by immigration status.
Borders Crackdowns Increase Residency
- Border crackdowns can unintentionally increase the immigrant population by discouraging temporary work trips.
- Immigrants stay longer to avoid risky border crossings, altering migration patterns.
Why Immigrants Can Be Net Contributors
- Different fiscal impact models show immigrants as either net contributors or less burdensome than natives, but government deficits cause all to appear net drains.
- Alex's Cato Institute model accounts for capital investment spurred by immigration, explaining more positive fiscal outcomes versus the National Academy model.
