Ran Abramitzky & Leah Boustan

Digging a Hole: The Legal Theory Podcast

We are thrilled to welcome Professors Ran Abramitzky and Leah Boustan to the podcast to discuss their groundbreaking new book on immigration in America! Ran is the Stanford Federal Credit Union Professor of Economics at Stanford and Leah is a Professor of Economics at Princeton, where she also serves as the Director of the Industrial Relations Section. They are on the forefront of economic research on immigration and just published Streets of Gold: America’s Untold Story of Immigrant Success.

In this episode, we break down the three immigration myths that the book addresses. First, there is the false story about the speediness of the American Dream and how class mobility occurs (or doesn’t) over generations. Second, the data tell a counterintuitive story about how the “Ellis Island generation” of immigrants compares to current immigrants to the United States. Third, a common political argument is that new immigrants make present Americans worse off economically – a theory the data debunk.

Beyond these myths, we also touch on several other topics. Professors Abramitzky and Boustan walk through their methodology and the data they collected from the census and Ancestry.com. They also explain why the immigrant story has been consistent for generations in America, despite the fact that immigration today occurs in a vastly different America with modern technology, more resources, and immigrants from new countries. The story that the book tells also is one of optimism, which differs from that told by historians. Much to Sam’s delight, we discuss why and how the history and economics disciplines tell different stories about American immigration. Lastly, we talk about common political criticisms of immigration and how this book deals with those, especially when opposition comes from emotional arguments rather than facts.

Referenced Readings

• Streets of Gold, by Ran Abramitzky & Leah Boustan.
• The Chinese Must Go, by Beth Lew-Williams
• The Chinese Question: The Gold Rushes and Global Politics, by Mae Ngai
• “The Effects of Immigration on the Labor Market Outcomes of Less-Skilled Natives,” by Joseph Altonji and David Card