barf alert
Washington Post WonkBlog · Jan 31, 2013 · by Ezra Klein
Washington tends to have a narrow view of what counts as "economic policy." Anything we do to the tax code is in. So is any stimulus we pass, or any deficit reduction we try. But most of this mistakes the federal budget for the economy.
The truth is, the most important piece of economic policy we pass -- or don't pass -- in 2013 may be something we don't think of as economic policy at all: immigration reform.
Congress certainly doesn't consider it economic policy, at least not officially. Immigration laws go through the House and Senate judiciary committees. But consider a few facts about immigrants in the American economy: About a 10th of the U.S. population is foreign-born. More than a quarter of U.S. technology and engineering businesses started from 1995 to 2005 had a foreign-born owner. In Silicon Valley, half of all tech startups had a foreign-born founder. One-quarter of all U.S.-based Nobel laureates of the past 50 years were foreign born. Right now, about half of the PhDs working in science and technology are foreign born.
The truth is, the most important piece of economic policy we pass -- or don't pass -- in 2013 may be something we don't think of as economic policy at all: immigration reform.
Congress certainly doesn't consider it economic policy, at least not officially. Immigration laws go through the House and Senate judiciary committees. But consider a few facts about immigrants in the American economy: About a 10th of the U.S. population is foreign-born. More than a quarter of U.S. technology and engineering businesses started from 1995 to 2005 had a foreign-born owner. In Silicon Valley, half of all tech startups had a foreign-born founder. One-quarter of all U.S.-based Nobel laureates of the past 50 years were foreign born. Right now, about half of the PhDs working in science and technology are foreign born.
