Comments Elsewhere

mac in japan: “Obviously, there’s a difference between hard work and productive work.”

Whether work is economically productive or not is determined by the preferences that it satisfies. Of course, not all hard work is productive work—digging ditches and filling them back in again is hard work, but it’s completely unproductive. But picking tomatoes is not like digging a ditch and filling it back in again. It is extremely productive labor: the people who do it are being paid to do work that you very highly disvalue doing yourself. That’s what we call productive labor.

As it turns out, they are mostly not being paid very well to do that work. But that’s because (1) government intervention suppresses wages in this sector (the threat of government force against undocumented immigrants undermines their bargaining power, and that lowers prevailing market wages for everyone) and (2) even on a completely free market, prevailing wages would be determined by the marginal productivity of individual workers, not the total productivity of the workers as a whole. (If you don’t see why that makes an important difference, review the diamond-water paradox.)

“A person for whom fruit and vegetable picking is the primary source of income can not generally make enough money to support their family, or pay enough taxes to offset the cost of government services they receive. No matter how hard they work, they will be a net financial drain on society.”

(1) This is in fact false. Immigrants, even low-skilled immigrants receiving low wages, are net taxpayers, not net tax recipients. This has been confirmed repeatedly by economic research.

(2) Even if it were true that low-income immigrants were net tax recipients, that would not mean that they are “a net financial drain on society”. It would mean that they are a net drain on state and federal treasuries. But that’s not the same thing as being a net economic liability.

(3) Even if it were true that they were a net economic liability, you have to contrast it with the net economic liability of maintaining an expansive immigration restriction regime—which is, in fact, huge and pervasive.

“Their work is better done by machine.”

Then go into business selling automated solutions for tomato-picking. If they do the work at less cost to tomato farmers (and thus less cost to tomato buyers, i.e., you and I), I’m sure you’ll make a mint.