Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/263533 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 15317
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
International migrants who seek protection also participate in the economy. Thus the policy of the United States to drastically reduce refugee and asylum-seeker arrivals from 2017 to 2020 might have substantial and ongoing economic consequences. This paper places conservative bounds on those effects by critically reviewing the research literature. It goes beyond prior estimates by including ripple effects beyond the wages earned or taxes paid directly by migrants. The sharp reduction in U.S. refugee admissions starting in 2017 costs the overall U.S. economy today over $9.1 billion per year ($30,962 per missing refugee per year, on average) and costs public coffers at all levels of government over $2.0 billion per year ($6,844 per missing refugee per year, on average) net of public expenses. Large reductions in the presence of asylum seekers during the same period likewise carry ongoing costs in the billions of dollars per year. These estimates imply that barriers to migrants seeking protection, beyond humanitarian policy concerns, carry substantial economic costs.
Subjects: 
GDP
benefits
welfare
coffers
public
fiscal
market
labor
employment
wages
costs
asylee
asylum
refugee
migrant
immigrant
immigration
growth
JEL: 
F62
H60
J61
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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