Ideas to Action:

Independent research for global prosperity

Publications

 

Time-Bound Labor Access to the United States: A Four-Way Win for the Middle Class, Low-Skill Workers, Border Security, and Migrants

4/11/13
Michael Clemens and Lant Pritchett

The US economy needs low-skill workers now more than ever, and that requires a legal channel for the large-scale, employment-based entry of low-skill workers. The alternative is what the country has now: a giant black market in unauthorized labor that hinders job creation and harms border security. A legal time-bound labor-access program could benefit the American middle class and low-skill workers, improve US border security, and create opportunities for foreign workers.

Foreign Workers Benefit Massively from Guest Work Opportunities, Submission to House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Workforce Protection

3/18/13
Michael Clemens

Michael Clemens’s “Foreign Workers Benefit Massively from Guest Work Opportunities” was entered into the Congressional Record by Chairman Tim Walberg, House Education and the Workforce Committee, Subcommittee on Workforce Protections, at a March 14, 2013, hearing, “Examining the Role of Lower-Skilled Guest Worker Programs in Today’s Economy.”

Migration as a Tool for Disaster Recovery: U.S. Policy Options in the Case of Haiti

10/14/11
Michael Clemens and Tejaswi Velayudhan

The United States should take modest steps to create a legal channel for limited numbers of people fleeing natural disasters overseas to enter the United States. This would address two related problems: the lack of any systematic U.S. policy to help the growing numbers of people displaced across borders by natural disasters and the inability of U.S. humanitarian relief efforts to reduce systemic poverty or sustainably improve victims’ livelihoods. The aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake presents a compelling case study of the administrative and legislative ways the U.S. government could address both problems. Migration is already a proven and powerful force for reducing Haitians’ poverty. A few modest changes in the U.S. approach could greatly aid Haiti’s recovery.

A Labor Mobility Agenda for Development - Working Paper 201

1/25/10
Michael Clemens

This paper argues that every rich country should consider its immigration policy to be part of its international development policy, and vice versa. A development policy that includes migration will be more effective; an immigration policy that includes development will better serve rich countries’ ideals and interests.

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