If you fear NIMBY, should you favor more immigration?

Many of today’s capitalists also want more immigration.  Ocasio-Cortez also supports more immigration, which is confusing.  According to Ricardo’s economic theory, expanding the population in the current environment will increase the cost of housing, health care, and higher education, just as it increased the price of wheat in the 19th century.  This would hurt workers.

That is from Ronald W. Dworkin, “The New Rentiers: Ricardo Redux,” in the March/April 2019 issue of The American Interest, not yet on-line.

In general, facing up to the policy implications of a strict NIMBY world is something few wish to do.  For instance, it seems to me that increases in the minimum wage, even if they initially went along Card-Krueger lines, would end up being passed along as greater benefits to landlords.  All sorts of other attempts at amelioration could backfire as well.

Or do we live in some kind of intermediate NIMBY world on the coasts, where you get to complain about the land restrictions, but don’t have to live with the policy implications of strict NIMBY?  Maybe so!  But if so, I would like to see this argued for at more length.

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