May 27, 2022
Over the course of their discussion, they touch on the relevance of economics, culture and politics to the immigration question. In a 2022 America of full employment, Richwine is not persuaded of the economic case for more labor supply. He makes the argument that full employment is a feature, not a bug, of the low-migration scenario imposed by the recent pandemic. And full employment is good for America’s working class in particular. Rather than economics, Richwine seems more concerned about the cultural impact of immigration, as newcomers transform the character and values of American society bit by bit. Where many analysts are focused on the macroeconomic impacts of migration, Razib and Richwine probe the deep roots of 17th-century American culture in different streams of Anglo migration, and consider what that can tell us about cultural differences in the 21st-century.