Berry College econ professor Frank Stephenson sent the following to me by e-mail. I here share it with you in full with Frank’s kind permission.
I recently had firsthand exposure to what is, I think, one of the less well-known benefits of immigration. My mother, who lives in rural North Carolina, was hospitalized with a severe illness. Her doctors (alas she had to be seen by several) were like a United Nations of medicine. As best I could tell, she had immigrant doctors from west Africa (not sure what country), China, and Bangladesh. She also had a doctor of Persian/Iranian origin, though his lack of an accent suggested he might not be first generation. My mother and other residents in her area are better off because of this medical talent from abroad. While lots of attention about immigration is focused on low skilled migrants and high tech workers, medicine is another area in which Americans receive great benefits from people coming here.
Indeed.
It’s foolish and economically uninformed for a person to cut himself or herself off from access to the ideas and efforts of other people. And it’s foolish and uninformed to do so whether the person who cuts himself or herself off from the ideas and efforts of other people does so individually or in league with other, similarly misled individuals.
