The dynamics of immigration policy with wealth-heterogeneous immigrants

In this paper we consider a simple intertemporal economy in which immigrants, if admitted, bring heterogeneous amounts of capital. We show that under certain conditions there is a level of immigration which maximizes the economy's capital-labor ratio, and that this level of immigration is the preferred choice of a majority of the economy's citizens. We then characterize, in an overlapping generations setting, the dynamics of capital accumulation and immigration policy, which can include multiple steady state equilibria and a sensitivity of immigration levels to changes in the economy's technology growth rate.Emigration and immigration

The Presumption of Constitutionality and the Demise of Economic Liberties

For over two centuries the United States Supreme Court has embraced a presumption of constitutionality that places the burden of proof on those challenging the constitutionality of governmental actions. Usually, the presumption is stated as a given, but when explained it is most often said to be founded in republicanism and due respect for the co-equal branches of government. Thus, the presumption constitutes a deference to the constitutional interpretations of the elected branches of government. This majoritarian view of the Constitution’s foundational principle is counter to the dominant view of the Constitution’s founders. They designed a government constituted of numerous constraints on the democratic excesses experienced during the period of the Articles of Confederation. Among those constitutional constraints is a Supreme Court with responsibility to safeguard liberty by assuring constitutional compliance by state governments and the other two branches of the national government. Because the presumption requires that the government show only a rational basis for its actions, the Supreme Court has abandoned its deference to executive and legislative interpretations of the Constitution when confronted with what a majority of the justices consider to be particularly important rights claims, first in First Amendment cases and later where other rights are found to be fundamental or particular groups of people are affected. While this selective abandonment of the presumption of constitutionality reflects an acknowledgement of the libertarian foundations of the Constitution, the presumption remains the default, resulting in variable scrutiny of constitutional claims depending on the rights asserted and the individuals asserting those rights. This levels of scrutiny-hierarchy of rights and peoples approach requires courts to independently assess the importance of government actions relative to individual rights claims, thereby intruding on the policy making role of the legislative and executive branches while creating a hierarchy of rights and peoples. Because the Court has continued to presume the constitutionality of laws said to be adjusting the benefits and burdens of economic life, economic liberty claims are seldom successful. The overarching contention of this Article is that the Constitution allows for no hierarchy of rights or peoples and therefore requires a default presumption of unconstitutionality. The courts should strictly scrutinize every constitutional rights claim

The Gold Standard and the Transmission of Business Cycles, 1833-1932

Descriptions of the gold standard have stressed two very different aspects of that monetary system. Modern observers, concerned with high and rising rates of inflation, have written enthusiastically and often nostalgically of the longer-term price stability that existed during the gold standard era. Many other economists during the past century and a half, however, have rendered a less kindly judgment, emphasizing instead the frequent and sometimes severe business contractions that characterized the period as well as the substantial shorter- and intermediate-term swings in the price level

Public Land Policy Is Ripe for Change

18 pages

American Prairie Reserve: Protecting Wildlife Habitat on a Grand Scale

The American Prairie Reserve (APR) is an ambitious private effort “to create the largest nature reserve in the continental United States, a refuge for people and wildlife preserved forever as part of America’s heritage.” To achieve this mission, APR must acquire title to hundreds of thousands of acres of private land while working closely with the federal and state agencies that manage public lands within and adjacent to the projected reserve. This effort has the potential to reestablish a population of as many as 10,000 bison that will help restore a prairie ecology over three and a half million acres once the Reserve reaches its intended size. APR is also controversial among many of the people who live in this sparsely populated region of Montana. How these issues might be resolved makes the American Prairie Reserve a useful case study of the potential role for markets in the future use and management of the vast grasslands administered by the BLM and the Forest Service