Alarmed by the potentially damaging economic and societal effects of the Quota Acts, in May 1924 the Social Science Research Council appointed its first research committee, the Committee on Human Migration, chaired by Edith Abbott of the University of Chicago. The Committee commissioned two studies drawing on international migration data: International Migrations, Volume 1: Statistics (NBER 1929) and International Migrations, Volume II: Interpretations (NBER 1931).

A central question of the Council’s Committee on Human Migration involved the potential economic effects of immigration. A widespread concern was that immigration reduced literacy levels, which might act as a drag on economic growth. The Council-sponsored volume International Migrations, Volume II: Interpretations reported that, in fact, the reverse was true:

In the last 100 years social and behavioral scientists have made substantial progress in understanding the many beneficial economic and societal effects of immigration.

Researchers have found that US immigration restrictions in the 1920s reduced growth and increased reliance on mechanization in immigrant-intensive industries.

Researchers have also found that the children of immigrants who arrived in the US between the 1880s and the 2010s have consistently had higher rates of economic mobility than the children of the US-born.

Ellis Island

Researchers have found that immigrant groups accused of lack of assimilation actually assimilate fastest, and that immigration improves the economy.

But despite evidence of benefits from immigration, and despite an overall increase in positive references to immigration in political speeches, political parties have become more polarized on the issue of immigration policy.

Despite evidence of benefits from immigration, political parties have become more polarized on the issue of immigration policy.

In the last 100 years social and behavioral scientists have made substantial progress in understanding the many beneficial economic and societal effects of immigration.

Statue of Liberty, New York City

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