Border wealth.

• Author: Bailey, Ronald
• Position: More immigrants, more income - Brief article

THE MORE immigrants, the merrier--and the wealthier. That's what an August paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research concludes.

Economists Francesc Ortega of Queens College in New York and Giovanni Peri of the University of California at Davis analyzed immigration and income data from 188 countries and found a "robust, positive effect of openness to immigration on long-run income per capita." Their research finds that immigrants raise average incomes in their host countries mainly by increasing overall economic productivity. "The main channel by which immigration affects productivity and income is by enlarging the set of skills available for production," report the...