In economics debates abound. Some last for a long long time, seemingly without any possibility of successful resolution. One such example is the debate on impacts of immigration on native workers. The question is simple--do immigrants hurt native workers? In other words, do more immigrants mean lower wages and fewer jobs for the natives?

A recent article published in the New York Times Magazine ("The Immigration Equation", July 9, 2006 - use the NUS Library E-Newspaper to read the article) is a superbly readable survey of the debate, spiced by interviews with two major players, George Borjas at Harvard and David Card at Berkeley, and a bit of psychoanalysis into their personal histories. They disagree (Borjas basically says "Yes, they hurt American workers" and Card says "No, the impact is negligible, if not positive") and seem to dislike each other. This article throws light on how some best (labor) economists work.

Anyone who is interested in this debate will find the article extremely informative. This is surely a must-read for students of my module.

P.S. The Economist magazine also ran an article on this debate. "Myths and migration" published in April 6th 2006 issue is much shorter (only one page) and it advocates Professor Card's view. I quoted some passages from the article in the last final exam (Semester 2, 2005-2006).