"The Immigration Equation" - Analysis

This article can be found at: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/09/magazine/09IMM.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&sq=immigration%20equation&st=nyt&scp=2.

Roger Lowenstein’s article, “The Immigration Equation,” takes an economical viewpoint on looking at immigration. While the article does have a slight bias in favor of immigrants, it does present two opposing opinions through two men: George Borjas, a Cuban immigrant who believes immigrants derive Americans of a better economy, and the Canadian David Card.
Even the fact that Lowenstein chooses to open and focus on an intellectual immigrant shows how dependent America is on immigrants. Lowenstein also makes a point that “like gardeners and seamstresses, a surprising number of Ph.D. economists in the U.S. are foreign-born.” He goes on to mention “America’s diversity…is a secret of its strength.” From this statement, it can be concluded that these immigrants of varying skill levels and nationalities, make America and its economy thrive. Thus, in order to continue growing as a country, our identity must remain diverse.
As Lowenstein goes on to describe the many views and opinions of economists mainly concerned differences in wage and education, he does finally mention that “immigration policy responds to a host of factors – cultural, political, and social as well as economic.” While all the facts and figures prove that modern-day immigration has been a huge issue of concern in the past few years, they cannot explain exactly the sudden surge of immigrants. “What the economists can do is frame a subset of the important issues,” Lowenstein states at the end of the essay. And that is exactly why this article is useful: the author has been able to show us the impact of immigrants on economists and their necessity to Americans by both keeping prices of goods and labor low as well as keeping America a strong country overall.