IT CAN be hard to work out the net impact of immigration on wages, especially in cities with bustling economies. The only way to try to tease out causality from coincidence is by hunting for a “natural experiment”: a historical event that is something like the randomised controlled tests scientists would conduct in a lab. For immigration, one such useful event is the Mariel boatlift of 1980.
For all its woes now, Cuba was an even tougher place 36 years ago for dissidents and economic strivers. Fidel Castro’s government persecuted citizens for their political beliefs, and barred most Cubans from emigrating. But in April 1980 Mr Castro decided that tensions in his country had grown too severe, and opened an escape valve. He declared that any Cubans who wanted to leave were free to go, provided that they left by the port of Mariel. Some 125,000 Cubans took up his offer that year, most of them heading for Miami.
As the newcomers arrived, Miami’s workforce grew by 55,000, or 8%, almost at once. The marielitos were mostly low-skilled: around 60% lacked high-school degrees, and just 10% were college graduates....Continue reading
Source: United States http://ift.tt/29Og8Ct
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