Border Walls / Treb Allen, Cauê de Castro Dobbin, Melanie Morten.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Allen, Treb.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Dobbin, Cauê de Castro.

Morten, Melanie.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w25267.

NBER working paper series no. w25267

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2018.

Summary:

What are the economic impacts of a border wall between the United States and Mexico? We use detailed data on bilateral ows of primarily unauthorized Mexican workers to the United States to estimate how a substantial expansion of the border wall between the United States and Mexico from 2007 to 2010 affected migration. We use these effects to estimate a general equilibrium spatial model featuring multiple labor types and quantify the economic impact of the wall expansion. At a construction cost of approximately $7 per person in the United States, we estimate that the border wall expansion harmed Mexican workers and high-skill U.S. workers, but benefited U.S. low-skill workers, who on average achieved welfare gains equivalent to an increase in per capita income of $0.28 per year.

Notes:

Print version record

November 2018.