Tag: immigration

The Simpsons — Day Laborers

 

In this scene, Homer and Bart are loading construction materials into their car at Builder’s Barn (a Home Depot-type store). Bart isn’t sure his dad is capable of handling the word himself when a group of immigrant day laborers offer their services. The day laborers have come from nearby Barleyville due to a recent “Barley Bust.” Homer accepts their offer and welcomes them to his home. He now feels superior because he’s able to hire workers to do jobs “we don’t want to do,” but then a hoard of laborers rushes the town of Springfield.

For a deeper look at economics and The Simpsons, check out Josh Hall’s book Homer Economicus.

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West Side Story — America

“America” compares life in America versus life in Puerto Rico. While the men favor the lifestyle of their homeland, the women prefer the mainland. This is a fun introduction to a discussion on mobility and migration in a labor economics or even to discuss standards of living and preferences in a macroeconomics course.

Assessment idea: Have students list things things they would miss if they were asked to move to another country.

Looking for more: Do you want to see more economics in Broadway shows? Check out BroadwayEconomics.com

Thanks to Mark Sammons from the University of Arizona for sending this clip in!

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Ryan Hamilton — Making it in New York

 

One of the underlying assumptions of the improvements to society from ease of migration comes from the fact that the models assume homogenous works. While there may be gains to productivity from easier migration, it doesn’t mean that workers will necessarily adapt to their surroundings. In Borjas’s book, We Wanted Workers, he points out the implications of psychic costs on movers and argues that it’s not fair to assume all workers who move will be as productive as they were at their source. This bit from Ryan Hamilton echoes that sentiment that allowing for migration may not mean productivity gains will occur if workers are unable to adjust to their new surroundings.

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Jeff Dunham — Interest in Immigration Policy

In his 2007 special, Spark of Insanity, ventriloquist Jeff Dunham brings his trust “side stick” Jose Jalapeño on stage to discuss immigration. Jeff decides to ask how Jose feels about the increased presence of National Guard agents along the Mexico/US border, but Jose notes that he isn’t too concerned about it. Peanut quickly points on that Jose isn’t worried because Jose is already in the country. Increased presence of border protection doesn’t do much to curtail illegal immigrants already in the country.

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Richard Jeni — Coming to America

Stand up comedian, Richard Jeni, discusses the calculus behind immigrants moving to the country. In the calculation of the net present value of migration, movers are expected to weigh the costs and benefits of a move. Jeni points on that we don’t see Americans leaving by boat, but we do see people risking their lives for an improvement in their lives.

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The Simpsons — Day Laborers

In this rare, popular culture portrayal of Day Laborers, The Simpsons evinces a characteristically ambiguous politics with regard to immigration. At first, Homer’s interaction with day laborers outside Builder’s Barn (a thinly veiled Home Depot surrogate) appears to be ironically progressive, pointing out the social inequalities between day laborers and the people who hire them. However, later in the clip, a broader fear of mass immigration is revealed when Homer declares, “You can’t have too much of a good thing,” whereupon waves of immigrants from neighboring Ogdenville rush into Springfield. The show sidesteps issues of race, by portraying the Ogdenvillians with vaguely Scandinavian features and accents, but otherwise plays out a standard, anti-immigrant narrative followed by a simplistic resolution based on learned mutual respect.

Thanks to Steve Anderson for the clip and description!

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Channel 4 News — A Grocery Store Without Foreign Products

When countries decide not to participate in international trade, we enter a world of autarky. Few of us realize the impact that international trade has on our daily lives. One grocery store in Germany decided to remove all foreign-made products from their shelves in order to make a statement about trade, immigration, and diversity.

This clip was originally recorded by instragram user @Heinzinger and then shown on a Germany news channel with the additional commentary added on top of the original video. Thanks to @NinjaEconomics for bringing this to my attention.

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