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Figure 10. Dynamic Economy ModelFigure 10 provides a framework for interpreting Goldin’s finding <strong>of</strong> anegative wage impact. When she reports, “wages were depressed in citieshaving an increase … [in their] foreign born” (emphasis added), she isreferring to the difference between W hand W 1, not to a wage below W 0.This subtlety is overlooked in many summaries <strong>of</strong> Goldin’s contribution.Reviews <strong>of</strong> Goldin reported by Hatton and Williamson (1998, 170), Dolmasand Huffman (2004, 1129), and Graham (2004, 60) suggest that immigrantsdepressed wages to a level below W 0. This was not the case. Residentwages were high in cities with large numbers <strong>of</strong> immigrants. The dynamiceconomy model assumes a demand shock unrelated to immigration. Asecond mechanism that would explain the failure <strong>of</strong> immigration to havea depressing impact on wages is an induced demand shift, that is, a shiftin demand that responds to the arrival <strong>of</strong> immigrants. More foreigners– or indeed more population from any source by itself – should not meanlower wages or increased unemployment, because the additional peoplenot only supply labor but also add to the demand for output in a closedeconomy. Even if we relax the textbook assumption <strong>of</strong> a closed economyand allow local labor markets to import goods from another region to meetthe expanding demand, <strong>this</strong> induced-demand story will still be valid. Thisis because some goods and services must be produced where they areconsumed – restaurant meals, construction, and educational and medicalservices. In addition, an open economy will respond to an increase in itslabor force by expanding production <strong>of</strong> tradable commodities in which ithas a comparative advantage. Thus an exogenous entry <strong>of</strong> immigrants thatproduces an outward shift in the labor supply curve will prompt a positive149

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