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Why have countries increasingly restricted immigration even when they have opened their markets to foreign competition through trade or allowed their firms to move jobs overseas? In Trading Barriers, I argue that the increased ability of firms to produce anywhere in the world combined with growing international competition due to lowered trade barriers has led to greater limits on immigration.
I argue that businesses relying on low-skill labor have been the major proponents of greater openness to immigrants. Immigration helps lower costs, making these businesses more competitive at home and abroad. However, increased international competition, due to lower trade barriers and greater economic development in the developing world, has led many businesses in wealthy countries to close or move overseas. Productivity increases have allowed those firms that have chosen to remain behind to do more with fewer workers. Together, these changes in the international economy have sapped the crucial business support necessary for more open immigration policies at home, empowered anti-immigrant groups, and spurred greater controls on migration.
Debunking the commonly held belief that domestic social concerns are the deciding factor in determining immigration policy, Trading Barriers demonstrates the important and influential role played by international trade and capital movements.
Available at Princeton University Press and Amazon.
Awards, press & reviews of the book
Online appendices can be found here; replication files can be found here; and the low-skill immigration policy dataset can be found here.
Why have countries increasingly restricted immigration even when they have opened their markets to foreign competition through trade or allowed their firms to move jobs overseas? In Trading Barriers, I argue that the increased ability of firms to produce anywhere in the world combined with growing international competition due to lowered trade barriers has led to greater limits on immigration.
I argue that businesses relying on low-skill labor have been the major proponents of greater openness to immigrants. Immigration helps lower costs, making these businesses more competitive at home and abroad. However, increased international competition, due to lower trade barriers and greater economic development in the developing world, has led many businesses in wealthy countries to close or move overseas. Productivity increases have allowed those firms that have chosen to remain behind to do more with fewer workers. Together, these changes in the international economy have sapped the crucial business support necessary for more open immigration policies at home, empowered anti-immigrant groups, and spurred greater controls on migration.
Debunking the commonly held belief that domestic social concerns are the deciding factor in determining immigration policy, Trading Barriers demonstrates the important and influential role played by international trade and capital movements.
Available at Princeton University Press and Amazon.
Awards, press & reviews of the book
- Theodore J. Lowi Best First Book, 2018, APSA-IPSA
- Best Book, 2018 APSA Migration and Citizenship Section
- Best Book, 2018, ISA Ethnicity, Nationalism, & Migration Section
- Best Book, 2018, ISA IPE Section
- Awarded an Albie by Dan Drezner for the top works in political economy
- Monkey Cage at the Washington Post
- Dan Drezner at the Washington Post
- Population and Development Review
- Journal of Politics
- IMF Finance & Development (June 2017)
- LSE Review of Books
- The Atlantic
Online appendices can be found here; replication files can be found here; and the low-skill immigration policy dataset can be found here.