George J. Borjas
| George J. Borjas | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Jorge Jesús Borjas October 15, 1950 Havana, Cuba |
| Residence | Lexington, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Citizenship | American |
| Fields | Economist |
| Institutions | Harvard Kennedy School |
| Alma mater |
St. Peter's College Columbia University |
| Doctoral advisor | Jacob Mincer |
| Known for | research on immigration |
George Jesus Borjas (born Jorge Jesús Borjas; October 15, 1950)[1] is an American economist and the Robert W. Scrivner Professor of Economics and Social Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School.[2] He is most well known for his advocacy of reducing the rates of immigration to the United States.
Personal life and education
Borjas was born in Havana, Cuba, on October 15, 1950. He migrated to the United States in October 1962 with his mother. He graduated with a B.S. in economics and mathematics from St. Peter's College in 1971. He then completed his M.A. in economics from Columbia University in 1974. He completed his M.Phil and Ph.D. in economics from Columbia in 1975 for thesis titled Job Investment, Labor Mobility and Earnings.[3]
He is married and has three children.[3]
Academic career
Borjas became an assistant professor of economics at Queens College, City University of New York from 1975 to 1977. He was a post-doctoral fellow at the Department of Economics, University of Chicago from 1977 to 1978. He was also a Senior Research Analyst, National Bureau of Economic Research from 1972 to 1978.[3]
He joined the faculty at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1980 and remained there for ten years. He then became a professor at the University of California, San Diego from 1990 to 1995. He joined the faculty at Harvard University in 1995.[3]
Work
Borjas was called "America’s leading immigration economist" by BusinessWeek and The Wall Street Journal. He is an influential figure in the debate on immigration and his research on the economic impact of immigration plays a central role in the debate over immigration policy in the United States.[1]
He has written many books and has published more than 100 articles in books and scholarly journals, including the American Economic Review, the Journal of Political Economy, and the Quarterly Journal of Economics.[2] His most recent book is We Wanted Workers: Unraveling the Immigration Narrative (W. W. Norton & Company, 2016).
Controversy
Borjas was the primary advisor to Jason Richwine, whose Harvard dissertation concluded that Latino immigrants to the U.S. are and will remain less intelligent than "native whites." Borjas claimed that he "played no role in topic selection or forming the research agenda" for Richwine's disseration, but some social science scholars noted it could be problematic for a disseration advisor to fail to challenge a student's topic selection.[4]
In 2017, an analysis of Borjas' study on the effects of the Mariel boatlift concluded that Borjas' findings "may simply be spurious" and that his theory of the economic impact of the boatlift "doesn't fit the evidence."[5] Borjas denied that he had misconstrued the data, calling the controversy "fake news." [6]
Honors
Borjas was listed in Who's Who in the World, Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in Finance and Industry and Who’s Who in Economics. He was elected a fellow of the Econometric Society in 1998 and a fellow of the Society of Labor Economists in 2004. He was also a member of the Council of Economic Advisors for the Governor of California from 1993 to 1998, of the National Academy of Sciences Panel on the Demographic and Economic Impact of Immigration from 1995 to 1997, and chaired the National Science Foundation’s Committee of Visitors for the Economics Program in 1996.[2]
In 2011 he was named co-winner of the IZA Prize in Labor Economics.[7]
Books
The following are the books published by Borjas.
- Wage Policy in the Federal Bureaucracy (American Enterprise Institute, 1980)
- Friends or Strangers: The Impact of Immigrants on the U.S. Economy (Basic Books, 1990)
- Labor Economics (McGraw-Hill, 1996; 2nd Edition, 2000, 3rd edition, 2005, 4th edition, 2008, 5th edition, 2010,)
- Heaven’s Door: Immigration Policy and the American Economy (Princeton University Press, 1999)
- Immigration Economics (Harvard University Press, 2014)
- We Wanted Workers: Unraveling the Immigration Narrative (W. W. Norton & Company, 2016)
References
- 1 2 Davis, Bob (April 26, 1996). "Despite His Heritage, Prominent Economist Backs Immigration Cut". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on September 26, 2011. Retrieved 2008-06-30.
- 1 2 3 "Biography of George J. Borjas". Harvard University. Archived from the original on April 29, 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-30.
- 1 2 3 4 "Curriculum Vitae of George J. Borjas" (PDF). Harvard University. Archived from the original (pdf) on 2008-07-25. Retrieved 2008-06-30.
- ↑ "The Inside Story Of The Harvard Dissertation That Became Too Racist For Heritage". Think Progress. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
- ↑ "There's no evidence that immigrants hurt any American workers". Vox. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
- ↑ "The Great Mariel Boatlift Debate: Does Immigration Lower Wages?" (PDF). Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
- ↑ George Borjas Named Co-Winner of 2011 IZA Prize in Labor Economics Harvard Kennedy School, July 21, 2011. Retrieved December 1, 2012