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US immigration policies and dynamics of cross‐border workforce in agriculture
Author(s) -
Devadoss Stephen,
Luckstead Jeff
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
the world economy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.594
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1467-9701
pISSN - 0378-5920
DOI - 10.1111/twec.12684
Subject(s) - workforce , immigration , economic shortage , agriculture , labour economics , economics , enforcement , production (economics) , wage , labour supply , economic growth , political science , macroeconomics , geography , linguistics , philosophy , archaeology , government (linguistics) , law
Given the contentious debate on immigration, this study develops a dynamic model to analyse the effects of stricter border and domestic enforcement and streamlining the guest‐worker programme on cross‐border migration from Mexico, employment and production in US labour‐intensive and Mexican agriculture and the US and Mexican wage rates. The model incorporates labour‐leisure decisions of Mexican workers and labour market dynamics and linkages. The findings show stricter border and domestic controls exacerbate the labour‐shortage problems and reduce the US agricultural production. Streamlining the guest‐worker programme provides a steady supply of farm workers and has negligible impact on the US wage.