A flush economy has reduced tension about immigration, but the issue may well be raised in the presidential race. So this thorough analysis of immigration patterns by a respected, if controversial, public policy professor from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government may be a timely acquisition. Borjas may be best known for the argument that recent decades' entrants are less skilled than their predecessors; other scholars question Borjas' interpretation of census and other data. In Heaven's Door, the author, himself a Cuban immigrant, urges that "facts" about immigration are not useful in making policy; we must decide what we want our policy to achieve before we can decide how many and what kind of immigrants should be admitted. To set a baseline, Borjas assumes the goal should be improving Americans' economic welfare, in terms of both standard of living and avoiding increased internal inequality. This goal suggests we should reduce annual quotas and give preference to immigrants with high skill levels. One need not agree with this solution to find Borjas' analysis enlightening. Mary Carroll
Review
"Honorable Mention for the 1999 Award for Best Professional/Scholarly Book in Government and Political Science, Association of American Publishers"
"[A] tour de force on the economics of immigration. In the policy area where emotion or ideology usually overwhelms analysis, this is a stunning piece of research--nuanced, lucid and forceful. . . . This is an enormously impressive book."---Peter Skerry, The Washington Post
"For an impressively researched, brightly written and tightly argued polemic against America's current liberal immigration policy, look at Heaven's Door."---Sylvia Nasar, New York Times
"A former Cuban refugee, Borjas addresses vexing questions in the U.S. immigration debate, offering an up-to-date and informative assessment of the modern immigrant experience and an excellent review of the recent academic research." ― Foreign Affairs
"Borjas is the leading American economist conducting research and writing about immigration policy. A mervelous read." ― Library Journal
"Borjas is a remarkably clear guide to the issues. . . . Borjas, one is convinced, is acting from concern for the public good as his research has revealed it to him."---Nathan Glazer, Harvard Magazine
"Will probably become the most influential, widely read study of the subject." ― Choice
"I highly recommend this book. It is written in a very accessible style; the arguments are easy to follow by nonexperts. . . . For those who might want to consider some important facts that bear on the future of immigration to the United States, though, I would urge them to read this book."---Jim Gimpel, Political Science Quarterly
"A thoughtful, sophisticated and richly informative book that merits close attention."---Stephan Thernstrom, Times Literary Supplement
"A lively and penetrating investigation of the economic dimension of immigration in the US . . . Borjas is an acknowledged master of inventive economic reasoning and theory, and he makes impressively extensive use of census and other data on immigrants. He, more than anyone, has brought the theoretical and methodological apparatus of contemporary economics to bear on immigration, and his contribution to the growth of the field has been considerable."---Jeffrey G. Reitz, Journal of International Migration and Integration
"Heaven's Door is by far the best introduction I have seen to the economics of immigration." ― New York Review of Books
Review
"This provocative and carefully researched book will create a lot of waves. In well written and engaging prose, George Borjas addresses some difficult questions and bravely provides some difficult answers to issues that America as a nation must confront. Heaven's Door will be controversial, but it will be by far the best and most important source document for the coming national debate on the Second Great Migration."―William Julius Wilson, Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor, Harvard University
"A new book by George Borjas always provides original and honest insights that help us better understand immigration's impact on our country.Heaven's Door breaks important new ground on the social mobility of immigrants and their children and on the causes of the recent decline of immigrants' skills relative to those of natives. At the same time, it updates Borjas's work of the past decade on the costs and benefits of immigration. No one interested in the consequences of American immigration policy, present or proposed, should be without a well-worn copy."―U.S. Representative Lamar Smith
"The steady, thoughtful work of George Borjas has had a profound impact on the always emotional debate over immigration policy in the United States. The present nature of the national immigration debate would be different indeed were it not for Borjas's work. This book may well be controversial, but its clarity, sincerity, and relevance for anyone fascinated with immigration issues is rock solid."―Alan Simpson, U.S. Senator (Wyo.), Retired
"George Borjas has written a well-reasoned and well-documented book on the costs and benefits of immigration for the American economy. He offers imaginative proposals for reforms in immigration policies that deserve serious attention."―James J. Heckman, University of Chicago
"George Borjas has nearly single-handedly turned the economic study of immigration into a respectable and heavily researched topic. Like all his other work on the subject, this book is important reading and maybe even more valuable because it is accessible to anyone with a serious interest in the subject."―Orley Ashenfelter, Joseph Douglas Green 1895 Professor of Economics, Princeton University
"Borjas is the leading American economist today writing about immigration policy. I do not share all of his views, but they have to be taken seriously by everyone in the field, and indeed his research has shaped the field more than that of any other writer."―John Isbister, University of California, Santa Cruz
From the Inside Flap
"This provocative and carefully researched book will create a lot of waves. In well written and engaging prose, George Borjas addresses some difficult questions and bravely provides some difficult answers to issues that America as a nation must confront.Heaven's Door will be controversial, but it will be by far the best and most important source document for the coming national debate on the Second Great Migration."--William Julius Wilson, Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor, Harvard University
"A new book by George Borjas always provides original and honest insights that help us better understand immigration's impact on our country.Heaven's Door breaks important new ground on the social mobility of immigrants and their children and on the causes of the recent decline of immigrants' skills relative to those of natives. At the same time, it updates Borjas's work of the past decade on the costs and benefits of immigration. No one interested in the consequences of American immigration policy, present or proposed, should be without a well-worn copy."--U.S. Representative Lamar Smith
"The steady, thoughtful work of George Borjas has had a profound impact on the always emotional debate over immigration policy in the United States. The present nature of the national immigration debate would be different indeed were it not for Borjas's work. This book may well be controversial, but its clarity, sincerity, and relevance for anyone fascinated with immigration issues is rock solid."--Alan Simpson, U.S. Senator (Wyo.), Retired
"George Borjas has written a well-reasoned and well-documented book on the costs and benefits of immigration for the American economy. He offers imaginative proposals for reforms in immigration policies that deserve serious attention."--James J. Heckman, University of Chicago
"George Borjas has nearly single-handedly turned the economic study of immigration into a respectable and heavily researched topic. Like all his other work on the subject, this book is important reading and maybe even more valuable because it is accessible to anyone with a serious interest in the subject."--Orley Ashenfelter, Joseph Douglas Green 1895 Professor of Economics, Princeton University
"Borjas is the leading American economist today writing about immigration policy. I do not share all of his views, but they have to be taken seriously by everyone in the field, and indeed his research has shaped the field more than that of any other writer."--John Isbister, University of California, Santa Cruz
From the Back Cover
"This provocative and carefully researched book will create a lot of waves. In well written and engaging prose, George Borjas addresses some difficult questions and bravely provides some difficult answers to issues that America as a nation must confront.Heaven's Door will be controversial, but it will be by far the best and most important source document for the coming national debate on the Second Great Migration."--William Julius Wilson, Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor, Harvard University
"A new book by George Borjas always provides original and honest insights that help us better understand immigration's impact on our country.Heaven's Door breaks important new ground on the social mobility of immigrants and their children and on the causes of the recent decline of immigrants' skills relative to those of natives. At the same time, it updates Borjas's work of the past decade on the costs and benefits of immigration. No one interested in the consequences of American immigration policy, present or proposed, should be without a well-worn copy."--U.S. Representative Lamar Smith
"The steady, thoughtful work of George Borjas has had a profound impact on the always emotional debate over immigration policy in the United States. The present nature of the national immigration debate would be different indeed were it not for Borjas's work. This book may well be controversial, but its clarity, sincerity, and relevance for anyone fascinated with immigration issues is rock solid."--Alan Simpson, U.S. Senator (Wyo.), Retired
"George Borjas has written a well-reasoned and well-documented book on the costs and benefits of immigration for the American economy. He offers imaginative proposals for reforms in immigration policies that deserve serious attention."--James J. Heckman, University of Chicago
"George Borjas has nearly single-handedly turned the economic study of immigration into a respectable and heavily researched topic. Like all his other work on the subject, this book is important reading and maybe even more valuable because it is accessible to anyone with a serious interest in the subject."--Orley Ashenfelter, Joseph Douglas Green 1895 Professor of Economics, Princeton University
"Borjas is the leading American economist today writing about immigration policy. I do not share all of his views, but they have to be taken seriously by everyone in the field, and indeed his research has shaped the field more than that of any other writer."--John Isbister, University of California, Santa Cruz
About the Author
George J. Borjas is the Pforzheimer Professor of Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He is the author of several books, including Wage Policy in the Federal Bureaucracy, Friends or Strangers: The Impact of Immigrants on the U.S. Economy, and Labor Economics, and of over one hundred articles in books and scholarly journals.
From The Washington Post
But if immigration doesn't much affect the size of the national economic pie, it does affect how it is cut up. Borjas demonstrates that immigration generates enormous wealth for employers and the highly skilled at the expense of unskilled and disadvantaged natives. Specifically, he estimates that "almost half of the decline in the relative wage of high school dropouts may be attributed to immigration." Black Americans in particular are big losers, with immigration reducing the income of the average native black person about $300 per year. Borjas's policy proposals follow from this analysis. He argues against the present system of awarding visas overwhelmingly on the basis of ties to family members already here and for a new system based on immigrant skills. He also argues for a reduction in overall numbers, to around 500,000 legal immigrants annually. Yet in addition to these, he favors generous refugee admissions.
