The Economic Impact of an Undocumented Immigrant

Economist Steven Landsburg has an interesting calculation of the impact of an undocumented immigrant on the U.S. economy in is essay “One-Fifth of an American: How Much is an Immigrant Life’s Worth, Exactly?” He concludes:

“[T]o justify keeping the immigrant out, you’d have to say he’s worth less than one-fifth of an American citizen. By contrast, there was a time when the U.S. Constitution counted a black slave as three-fifths of a full-fledged citizen. Alabama Gov. Bob Riley has recently apologized for the ravages of slavery. How long till politicians apologize for the ravages of our restrictive immigration policies?”

See the whole piece Slate.com.

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