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Immigration & the Welfare State. Tyler Cowen presents the case for expanded immigration and a somewhat restricted welfare state -- it's a serious argument. I come out differently in my conclusions, an argument I'll expand on later. But the view staked out by Cowen requires serious attending to by those who come out with a different position on either mass immigration or a beefy welfare state. Quotable: " The bigger the welfare state, the more the costs of immigration are socialized in an unfair, unsustainable, and undesirable way. So immigration and the welfare state are substitutes at the relevant margin. I choose immigration .. I prefer high growth, minimum domestic transfers, and a higher rate of immigration. Growth plus resource mobility is the best anti-poverty strategy we are likely to find. And this recipe is closer to classical liberalism than to modern liberalism. I might also add that the United States, through immigration, satisfies the Rawlsian formula better than does Western Europe."

UPDATE: David Bernstein joins the conversation. Posted by Greg Ransom | TrackBack