CRAIGforCONGRESS

Missouri's 7th District, U.S. House of Representatives

  
 

 

 

Congressional Issues 2010
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC POLICY
Immigration in a Division of Labor Economy


Everything we as Americans love about living in a capitalist nation -- air conditioning, automobiles, pure drinking water, refrigeration, antibiotics, microwave ovens, smallpox, polio, and other vaccines, and a host of other modern conveniences -- could not have come about with out the specialization that a division of labor economy produces. And in addition, they could not have come about without a sufficiently large population. Those who oppose immigration do not understand this vital connection.

Our teacher is Prof. George Reisman. His book, Capitalism, is one of the best economics texts ever written. It is thoroughly Free Market in perspective. We recommend purchasing the book using the link at right. You can also view the book online for free here.[pdf] We are drawing this information from chapter 9, "The Influence of the Division of Labor on the Institutions of Capitalism," Part C, "Economic Competition," pages 358-366.

 


The advantages of a large population can be observed by considering the size of the population necessary for the existence of an economical-sized medical school, say, and for the existence of medical specializations. The principles observed in these cases will apply throughout the economic system.

Thus, as a hypothetical illustration, let us assume that an efficient-sized medical school produces 100 new doctors per year. This number, let us assume, is a number that represents enough students to keep the cost of lectures and demonstrations within reason on a per student basis, and yet not so many students that they cannot obtain sufficient individual consultations and so forth with the faculty. Let us assume further that the average graduate of this medical school will practice medicine for 40 years after graduation. This means that ultimately there will be 4,000 graduates of this school in practice at any one time. Finally, let us assume that the average frequency of diseases and accidents, and so on, that require medical attention is such that in order to keep the average doctor more or less fully occupied, there have to be 1,000 people for every doctor. These assumptions imply that a population of 4 million is necessary to provide a market large enough to support one efficient-sized medical school.

But this is by no means the end. For suppose that only one doctor in a thousand is a brain specialist. With a total of only 4,000 thousand doctors, there would be just 4 brain specialists. That is hardly enough to support much specialized research in brain diseases, a specialized journal of brain diseases, graduate programs or seminars in brain diseases, and so forth. A population of 4,000 brain specialists, however, would make these things possible. But that implies an underlying population not of 4 million, but of 4 billion people.

America's population in 1880 was 50 million. Go back to 1880 and ask the anti-immigrant crowd of that day if America could possibly absorb four times as many people, and they would have said "absolutely not." But 100 years later, our population was four times as great (200 million). And our economy was 100 times larger. Who would want to live with the "modern conveniences" of 1880 technology? By 2080 the population will be 500 million. And if our economy isn't 1000 times larger than it is today, it will be the government's fault -- and the fault of socialist-thinking anti-immigrant voters, seeking government protection against growth and change. Christian Capitalism should give us clean, nuclear-powered cars, genetic engineering should make food almost free, cancer should be cured . . . who can even imagine the possibilities? And if we have immigrants mowing our lawns and hammering the nails, the rest of us can develop our specializations: curing diseases, programming computers, discovering free energy, and developing the capital infrastructure that will dramatically increase production and lower prices on everything. And the next generation of immigrants moves up the ladder of the division of labor as well -- if we do not restrict their God-given right to work and progress.

Prof. Reisman gives us more to think about: continue to next part.


George Reisman's Program of Self-Education in
the Economic Theory and Political Philosophy of Capitalism


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MALTHUSIANISM VS. COVENANTALISM
Gary North's essay on Darwin, Malthus, and a Biblical world-view
In his book The Myth of Over-Population, R.J. Rushdoony shows that the symptoms of "overpopulation" are actually symptoms of government intervention. Darwinian and Malthusian assumptions govern the modern State, and both the Republican and Democrat Parties.


Order Now:
The Myth of Over-Population


Recent Blog Posts


In the Next Two Years, Congress should:
  • expand, or at least maintain, current legal immigration quotas;
  • increase permanently the number of H-1B visas and deregulate employment-based immigration to facilitate the entry of skilled immigrants;
  • remove the new one-year time limit on filing for political asylum and reform the "expedited removal" laws;
  • repeal employer sanctions;
  • stop the move toward a computerized national identification system and the use of government-issued documents, such as birth certificates and Social Security cards, as de facto national ID cards; and
  • reduce restrictions on the movement of workers within the North American Free Trade Agreement area.
By the end of the decade, Congress should:
  • Abolish all anti-immigration laws.

As soon as possible, America should:

  • Create a vast network of voluntary social service agencies to meet all immigrants at the borders or piers and ensure their literacy and familiarity with American values.
  • Commit to on-going transmission of American values to immigrants in all areas of life. Read more about this.

 


next: part 5