Does immigration slow inflation?

There’s been a lot of speculation lately about the role of immigration and its impact on inflation. Does a flood of foreign workers push down wages, which contains cost and keeps prices down? Conversely, did the low immigration levels post-COVID add to the wage pressures because, combined with sickness from COVID, there were a lot less people for every job vacancy. It sounds sensible, but Steve believes it’s only a small part of the issue. And if did have the potential to increase labour supply governments are often negating the benefits by failing to invest money into the economy, putting pressure on services and creating another inflation dynamic.

We also hear from Ben, who has a few words to say on the recent Elon Musk episode and all the talk of emigrating to Mars. Apparently we ignored the sex angle. Ad Ben set the task for next week’s podcast. Feel free to add your own contribution by clicking on the mic logo at debunkingeconomics.com

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