Search Results
Journal Article
States' Efforts To Curtail Unauthorized Immigration Draw More Attention
Much is known about the effects of unauthorized immigration on the nation as a whole. But little research has been done so far on the impact of states? efforts to curb the influx?efforts such as the E-Verify program.
Journal Article
Import Tariffs and Illegal Immigration: A Strategic Analysis
We examine the effects of tariffs in a two-country specific-factors model with endogenous illegal immigration. While tariffs generate the usual terms-of-trade gains in goods markets for the host country, they also raise wages and attract additional illegal immigration. Increased immigration-related costs and higher wage costs of hiring immigrants may reduce the welfare of citizens of the host country. We also show that within the context of our two-nation framework, free trade need not maximize joint welfare when illegal immigration and certain immigration-related costs are present. Finally, ...
Working Paper
Unauthorized Immigration and Fiscal Competition
Reflecting upon recent enforcement policy activism of US states and countries within the EU towards unauthorized workers, we examine the overlap of centralized (federal) and decentralized (state or regional) enforcement of immigration policies in a spatial context. Among other results, we find that if interstate mobility is costless, internal enforcement is overprovided, and border enforcement and local goods are underprovided when regions take more responsibility in deciding policies. This leads to higher levels of unauthorized immigration under decentralization. Interregional migration ...
Working Paper
Public Good Provision, Tax Evasion, and Illicit Production
We investigate the trade-off policymakers face between raising tax revenues for public good provision and mitigating the distortionary effects of taxation when individuals can evade taxes and allocate work time between legal and illicit activities. These distortions lower the constrained optimal tax rate and lead to the under-provision of the public good. This under-provision problem is mitigated when surplus generated by the audit agency is seamlessly transferred to the taxing authorities. Extensions of the basic model allow the government to endogenously choose the audit intensity as part ...
Working Paper
Taxation, Compliance, and Clandestine Activities
We investigate the delicate balance policymakers have to strike between raising tax revenues for public good provision and controlling the distortionary effects of taxes on (i) tax evasion, (ii) total work hours, and (iii) the allocation of work hours to illegal activities. These distortions lower the constrained optimal tax rate and result in the under-provision of the public good. This under-provision problem is mitigated when surplus from the audit agency is seamlessly transferred to the taxing authorities. Extensions of the basic model incorporate agent heterogeneity and a more general ...
Report
Understanding Urban Decline
Senior policy economist Santiago Pinto and economics writer Tim Sablik discuss the forces that drive urbanization and the factors that determine where firms and households locate within cities. Pinto and Sablik also evaluate a variety of place-based and people-based policy responses to urban decline. Because every city is different, the authors caution that revitalization efforts that worked for one city may not work for another.
Briefing
Impacts of Government Spending Changes on Local Economies
Local multipliers measure how an economic shock in a specific region (such as a change in federal government spending in that region) affects the local economy.Based on our survey of studies, a reasonable estimate range for local fiscal multipliers is:An income multiplier of 1.3-2.0, or an additional $1 of government spending increasing local GDP by 1.3 to 2.0 times.An employment multiplier of 10-30 jobs in the local economy for every additional $1 million in government spending (or $33,000 to $100,000 per job).
Briefing
How Does the Foreign-Born Population Affect Labor Force Growth?
Long-term demographic trends, especially population aging, have been a major factor contributing to the slowdown in labor force growth. Once age composition is considered, a large part of the apparent decline in participation among native workers reflects shifting age structure rather than changes in actual labor force participation rates.Foreign-born workers have provided a steady positive contribution to labor force growth. Their role has grown mainly because of population expansion through net migration, although they too show signs of an aging profile over time.These patterns suggest that ...
Briefing
The Postpandemic City: Urban Employment Centers and Commuting in the Fifth District
Employer-reported data through 2023 reveal a divergence in postpandemic commuting patterns across four large metropolitan areas within the Fifth District.Washington, D.C., lost 1 percentage point of its metropolitan area's employment share to suburban destinations between the prepandemic period (2017-19) and the postpandemic period (2023), while Baltimore, Richmond and Charlotte all maintained or increased their cores' share.Washington's losses fall primarily on high-earning workers and are spatially concentrated in more distant suburbs.
Briefing
Unauthorized Immigration: Evaluating the Effects and Policy Responses
Immigration has been the subject of intense debate recently in the United States and in Europe. Economists have studied unauthorized immigration to better understand what motivates immigrants to move and what effects they have on domestic workers and the domestic economy. Incorporating this research into a model suggests that centralized enforcement of immigration policies may be more effective than a decentralized approach.