We Wanted Workers Quotes

“Ironically, I have been employed by the Harvard Kennedy School of Government for the past two decades, probably the premier place to study public policy in the world. Nevertheless, I happen to believe the claim that mathematical modeling and data analysis can somehow lead to a scientific determination of social policy is sheer nonsense. Social policy could not be scientifically determined even if there was universal agreement on the underlying facts. Ideology and values matter too.”
― George J. Borjas, We Wanted Workers: Unraveling the Immigration Narrative

“Donald Trump announced his presidential bid in June 2015, he made some comments that resulted in a political firestorm. Among the least incendiary of those comments was this statement: “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. . . . They’re sending people that have lots of problems.”13”
― George J. Borjas, We Wanted Workers: Unraveling the Immigration Narrative

“Within this very myopic perspective, immigrants fill the labor slots that need filling, and those foreign-born workers play no other role in our country’s cultural, political, social, or economic life. Our children’s schools are unaffected, the welfare state is untouched, the balance of political power is unchanged, and daily life in”
― George J. Borjas, We Wanted Workers: Unraveling the Immigration Narrative