Congressional Issues 2010
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC
POLICY
Immigration in a Division of Labor Economy
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Everything we as Americans love about living in a capitalist
nation -- air conditioning, automobiles, pure drinking water,
refrigeration, antibiotics, microwave ovens, smallpox, polio, and
other vaccines, and a host of other modern conveniences -- could
not have come about with out the specialization that a division of
labor economy produces. And in addition, they could not have come
about without a sufficiently large population. Those who oppose
immigration do not understand this vital connection.
| Our teacher is Prof.
George Reisman. His book, Capitalism, is one of
the best economics texts ever written. It is thoroughly Free
Market in perspective. We recommend purchasing the book
using the link at right. You can also view the book online
for free here.[pdf]
We are drawing this information from chapter 9, "The
Influence of the Division of Labor on the Institutions of
Capitalism," Part C, "Economic Competition,"
pages 358-366. |
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| The advantages of a large population can be
observed by considering the size of the population necessary
for the existence of an economical-sized medical school, say,
and for the existence of medical specializations. The
principles observed in these cases will apply throughout the
economic system.
Thus, as a hypothetical illustration, let us assume that an
efficient-sized medical school produces 100 new doctors per
year. This number, let us assume, is a number that represents
enough students to keep the cost of lectures and
demonstrations within reason on a per student basis, and yet
not so many students that they cannot obtain sufficient
individual consultations and so forth with the faculty. Let us
assume further that the average graduate of this medical
school will practice medicine for 40 years after graduation.
This means that ultimately there will be 4,000 graduates of
this school in practice at any one time. Finally, let us
assume that the average frequency of diseases and accidents,
and so on, that require medical attention is such that in
order to keep the average doctor more or less fully occupied,
there have to be 1,000 people for every doctor. These
assumptions imply that a population of 4 million is
necessary to provide a market large enough to support one
efficient-sized medical school.
But this is by no means the end. For suppose that only one
doctor in a thousand is a brain specialist. With a total of
only 4,000 thousand doctors, there would be just 4 brain
specialists. That is hardly enough to support much specialized
research in brain diseases, a specialized journal of brain
diseases, graduate programs or seminars in brain diseases, and
so forth. A population of 4,000 brain specialists,
however, would make these things possible. But that implies an
underlying population not of 4 million, but of 4 billion
people. |
America's population in 1880 was 50 million. Go back to 1880 and
ask the anti-immigrant crowd of that day if America could possibly
absorb four times as many people, and they would have said
"absolutely not." But 100 years later, our population was
four times as great (200 million). And our economy was 100 times
larger. Who would want to live with the "modern
conveniences" of 1880 technology? By 2080 the population will
be 500 million. And if our economy isn't 1000 times larger than it
is today, it will be the government's fault -- and the fault of
socialist-thinking anti-immigrant voters, seeking government
protection against growth and change. Christian
Capitalism should give us clean, nuclear-powered cars, genetic
engineering should make food almost free, cancer should be cured . .
. who can even imagine the possibilities? And if we have immigrants
mowing our lawns and hammering the nails, the rest of us can develop
our specializations: curing diseases, programming computers,
discovering free energy, and developing the capital infrastructure
that will dramatically increase production and lower prices on
everything. And the next generation of immigrants moves up the
ladder of the division of labor as well -- if we do not restrict
their God-given right to work and progress.
Prof. Reisman gives us more to think about: continue
to next part.
George
Reisman's Program of Self-Education in
the Economic Theory and Political Philosophy of Capitalism
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NEXT: 5 |
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10 |
- MALTHUSIANISM
VS. COVENANTALISM
- Gary North's essay on Darwin, Malthus, and a Biblical
world-view
| In his book The Myth of
Over-Population, R.J. Rushdoony shows that the symptoms
of "overpopulation" are actually symptoms of
government intervention. Darwinian and Malthusian
assumptions govern the modern State, and both the Republican
and Democrat Parties. |
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Recent Blog Posts
- In the Next Two Years, Congress should:
- expand, or at least maintain, current legal immigration
quotas;
- increase permanently the number of H-1B visas and
deregulate employment-based immigration to facilitate the
entry of skilled immigrants;
- remove the new one-year time limit on filing for
political asylum and reform the "expedited
removal" laws;
- repeal employer sanctions;
- stop the move toward a computerized national
identification system and the use of government-issued
documents, such as birth certificates and Social Security
cards, as de facto national ID cards; and
- reduce restrictions on the movement of workers within
the North American Free Trade Agreement area.
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By the end of
the decade, Congress should:
- Abolish all anti-immigration laws.
As soon as possible, America should:
- Create a vast network of voluntary
social service agencies to meet all immigrants at the
borders or piers and ensure their literacy and familiarity
with American values.
- Commit to on-going transmission of American values to
immigrants in all areas of life. Read
more about this.
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next: part 5
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