The immigration safety valve: keeping a lid on inflation.

Immigration has been a central component of America's economic success in the 1990s. The large, consistent influx of foreign workers from the likes of India and Mexico adds enough people to the economy to ease the pressure on wages. If it were not for this incoming workforce, wages would rise quic...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Foreign Affairs Vol. 79; no. 2; pp. 13 - 17
Main Author: Richter, Stephan-Götz
Format: Article
Published: Foreign Affairs March/April 2000
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Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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Summary:Immigration has been a central component of America's economic success in the 1990s. The large, consistent influx of foreign workers from the likes of India and Mexico adds enough people to the economy to ease the pressure on wages. If it were not for this incoming workforce, wages would rise quickly, with too much money being allocated to too few workers and goods, and inflation would accelerate, with the Federal Reserve then having to increase interest rates. All this would mean a smaller and weaker U.S. economy.