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617 sats \ 3 replies \ @windward 31 Jan \ parent \ on: What is an optimal immigration policy? culture
Labor moving back and forth at a whim,'following the work' is how the US border historically worked until 1875 with the Page Act when they banned Chinese women specifically, and then eventually all Chinese people with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.
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wouldn’t most of the labor during the late 1800s have been moving to the US and just staying?
In general yes, because the US wanted settlers out west - we offered land,work +political freedom (and sometimes straight payments to come over).
When it comes to our border with Mexico at the time - we end up having the Mexican American War it's just after that we setup the Immigration Act of 1891
we( being the US government) didn't track or care about the concept of immigration too much until non-white people tried to stay as well. And we also had the Mexican American War.
i also think there is a societal cost to continually uprooting people, where they’re not just moving once but are constantly moving to the flow of new jobs in perpetuity.
absolutely - but historically, labor has been easier to move than capital.
and if you think about it, constantly uprooting and moving to somewhere new in search of better is a pretty American thing to do.
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Labor is easier to move than capital?
I think it’s the opposite today. You don’t have to physically move capital
Capital needs to precede labor
Egg 🥚 vs chicken 🐓
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