Copyright (c) 2009 All rights reserved. http://works.bepress.com/vernon_briggs Recent documents in Vernon M Briggs Jr en-us Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:04:34 PST 3600 http://works.bepress.com/vernon_briggs/188 http://works.bepress.com/vernon_briggs/188 Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:21:29 PDT [Excerpt] Free societies with industrialized economies such as Canada and the United States are characterized by certain unique features. Among these is the fact that they both allow their citizens to come and go across their borders with few restrictions and they annually permit millions of noncitizens to travel, to conduct business, to visit, and to study in their countries with only minimal regulation. Both nations also allow some non-citizens to enter their countries and to work in competition with their citizen work-force for temporary periods under specific conditions. Furthermore, they regularly allow a generous number of non-citizens to immigrate or to take refuge as permanent residents and eventually to become citizens. It is primarily these latter situations, where work and residence issues arise, that pose the question whether years of experience have generated any principles that can guide policy makers when debates re-surface? Or, is it always simply a matter of political power and special interests at the moment that determine immigration policy on an ad-hoc basis? Vernon M. Briggs http://works.bepress.com/vernon_briggs/187 http://works.bepress.com/vernon_briggs/187 Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:21:04 PDT [Excerpt] As the 21st Century commences, immigration has once again become a major source of the nation's labor force growth. The public policies that enable mass immigration to occur do more than simply increase the size of the nation's labor force; they also affect such key compositional matters as its human capital, demographics, and geographic attributes. Immigration policy, however, has more than just immediate economic consequences; it also helps to mold the nation's future as long-term citizenship obligations are usually involved. Vernon M. Briggs http://works.bepress.com/vernon_briggs/186 http://works.bepress.com/vernon_briggs/186 Thu, 14 May 2009 12:37:18 PDT [Excerpt] [George's] views led to the creation of single tax reform movements at the grassroots level in several western states in the United States as well as in Britain, Australia, Canada and continental Europe. Today, several economists and institutes continue to believe in the contemporary relevance of his ideas. Vernon M. Briggs http://works.bepress.com/vernon_briggs/184 http://works.bepress.com/vernon_briggs/184 Mon, 04 May 2009 12:25:55 PDT [Excerpt] Population projections made by both the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Research Council in 1995 show that, if existing immigration policies remain in place, immigration will account for two-thirds of the anticipated population growth of between 124 and 131 million people that will occur by 2050. Immigration, which is currently accounting for about 40 percent of annual population growth, is in the process of becoming the dominant influence on the nation's human resource development. Two national commissions established by Congress since 1965 have strongly criticized prevailing immigration policy and offered significant recommendations for changes. Independent research findings have confirmed that extant immigration policy is not serving the national interest. Public opinion polls consistently indicate that most Americans want extensive reforms. But because immigration policy has been captured by a powerful coalition of special interest groups who have selfish private agendas, reform efforts have languished. As a consequence, immigration policy has been allowed to function without accountability for its economic consequences. Vernon M. Briggs http://works.bepress.com/vernon_briggs/185 http://works.bepress.com/vernon_briggs/185 Mon, 04 May 2009 12:17:29 PDT [Excerpt] Of the myriad public policies that have impinged on the economic well being of black Americans over the years, none has had more overarching and continuous effects than those pertaining to immigration. Immigration policies and trends have set the stage that has allowed other outcomes to happen. From the beginning, when blacks were introduced into the British colonies that would later become the United States, to contemporary times, when the nation finds itself in the throes of the largest and longest period of mass immigration in its history, immigration policy has significantly influenced the geographical, occupational, and industrial employment patterns of black Americans. Given the harrowing experiences of black Americans as the only racial or ethnic group to have ever been collectively subjected to both enforced slavery and de jure segregation, no form of public policy should be allowed to do harm to their quest to overcome these imposed handicaps. Unfortunately, U.S. immigration policy has not held to that standard. The burden of this neglect continues to this day. Vernon M. Briggs http://works.bepress.com/vernon_briggs/183 http://works.bepress.com/vernon_briggs/183 Mon, 13 Apr 2009 12:51:59 PDT [Excerpt] Prevailing immigration policy and the toleration of its mass abuse by illegal immigration generates both "winners" and "losers." Vernon M. Briggs http://works.bepress.com/vernon_briggs/181 http://works.bepress.com/vernon_briggs/181 Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:05:55 PDT [Excerpt] The hemorrhage of illegal immigrants has not only made a mockery of the nation's immigration laws; it has seriously undermined the public's confidence in their government's ability to secure its borders and control the nation's destiny. Vernon M. Briggs http://works.bepress.com/vernon_briggs/182 http://works.bepress.com/vernon_briggs/182 Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:04:59 PDT [Excerpt] Discussions of the impact of immigration policy on the population and labor force of the United States typically center on why the nation has such a policy (i.e., the national interests that are involved) and what are the specific policy elements that are used to accomplish those ends. Far less attention is given to the process issues as to who administers those policies and how is the policy actually implemented and enforced. But answers to the who and the how questions are of equal importance when it comes to understanding policy outcomes. This is because the administrative processes provide the means to the ends. They determine the way in which policy priorities are established and they provide the mechanisms by which resources (both dollars and manpower) are assigned to accomplish policy objectives. No matter what the national interests sought or what are the laws, rules, regulations, and guidelines enacted to achieve them, the degree to which they are accomplished depends largely on the importance assigned to the issue and the material support devoted to reaching those ends. Vernon M. Briggs http://works.bepress.com/vernon_briggs/180 http://works.bepress.com/vernon_briggs/180 Wed, 11 Mar 2009 11:45:13 PDT [Excerpt] As the 21st Century begins, the United States is in the throes of the largest and most prolonged period of mass immigration in its history. In 2003, the foreign-born population totaled 33.5 million people (11.8 percent of the population). Moreover, the Census Bureau projects that two thirds of the nation's anticipated population growth to 392 million persons by the year 2050 will come from immigrants and their children (i.e., 82 million people). Demographic changes are converted into economic variables through labor force participation. Hence, unless there are significant policy changes, the major determinant of labor force growth in the new century will be immigration. Immigration is a policy-driven phenomenon. The current wave can be dated to the passage of the Immigration Act of 1965. The immigrant population in the United States has mushroomed in scale due to congressional indifference to the unexpected consequences of the 1965 legislation as well as the statutory refinements that followed. Immigrant population growth will continue on its expansive path unless or until public policies are enacted to change course. Vernon M. Briggs http://works.bepress.com/vernon_briggs/178 http://works.bepress.com/vernon_briggs/178 Tue, 03 Mar 2009 11:05:25 PST [Excerpt] The immigration policy of the United States is steeped in legal complexities and is considered to be so politically combustible that most politicians are loathe to address the issue unless circumstances absolutely require them to act. In those instances when extant policies have become so incongruent with prevailing national interests that public pressure can no longer be ignored, the reform process has usually been preceded by the formation by Congress of a national commission or congressional panel to study the needs and to frame the appropriate policy responses before the professional politicians will touch the subject. Indeed, one would be hard-pressed to find another policy issue where the use of special commissions or committees has been so frequently used to identify policy shortcomings and to offer policy changes. Social security and welfare policies have sometimes relied on commissions to serve the same buffer role because they are also complex and controversial for politicians to address directly. But commissions were used to review immigration policy long before these other two public policies ever existed. Vernon M. Briggs