Comments on “Disadvantaged Minorities, Immigration, and the Business Cycle,” by George Borjas Steven Raphael Goldman School of Public Policy University of California, Berkeley

Questions pertaining to recent trends in the composition of the low-wage workforce Do these patterns differ from those observed during previous migrations? Are there dimensions other than wages where new immigrants (and their offspring) perform relatively well?

Differences between these two immigration waves that carry implications for future socioeconomic mobility National Origin Quotas, 1921 and 1924 Human capital disparity between immigrants and natives is likely larger now than in the past. A sizable fraction of current immigrants are here illegally.

The relative performance of Hispanic immigrants and native-born Hispanics on several non-wage outcomes Employment Incarceration Education Home ownership

Questions pertaining to estimates of the effect of immigrants on the national wage distribution Is the percent immigrant an appropriate instrument in the underlying structural wage regressions? –Across skills groups, may be correlated with declines in complimentary capital investments. –Across skill groups may be correlated with imported labor via the factor content of trade. If we were to allow for heterogeneity in the elasticity of substitution between capital and labor of different skill groups, how would this affect the long-term wage simulations?