Alex Nowrasteh

Last updated
Alex Nowrasteh
Alex Nowrasteh by Gage Skidmore.jpg
Nowrasteh in 2017
Born
Alexander Nowrasteh

California, U.S.
Alma mater George Mason University (BA)
London School of Economics (MSc)
OccupationImmigration policy analyst
Board member ofCenter for Global Liberty and Prosperity of the Cato Institute

Alexander Nowrasteh is an American analyst of immigration policy currently working at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank located in Washington D.C. Nowrasteh is an advocate of freer migration to the United States. [1] He previously worked as the immigration policy analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, another libertarian think tank. [2] Nowrasteh is a self-described "radical" advocate for open borders to and from the United States. [3] He has published a number of peer-reviewed studies on immigration and co-authored with Benjamin Powell the book Wretched Refuse?: The Political Economy of Immigration and Institutions. [4]

Contents

In January 2013, ABC News listed Nowrasteh as #15 on a list of top 20 immigration experts to follow on Twitter in the United States. [5] In July 2013, The National Journal magazine ran a feature in its print edition about Nowrasteh entitled "The Libertarian Case," that featured an interview and discussion of immigration. [6] He has faced criticism from conservatives for his views on immigration and other topics. [7] [8]

Early life and education

Alex Nowrasteh was born and raised in Southern California to Iranian American Cyrus Nowrasteh (a filmmaker) and his wife Betsy Giffen Nowrasteh (who has collaborated with Cyrus on some of his film projects). Alex completed a B.A. in economics from George Mason University and a M.Sc. in economic history from the London School of Economics where he authored a dissertation about the economics of counter-insurgency strategy. [1]

Publications

In April 2013, Nowrasteh wrote a blog post critical of a 2007 study conducted by Robert Rector and published by The Heritage Foundation that attempted to estimate the long-term fiscal impact of various immigration policies. It delayed the release of Heritage's updated study and placed it under severe scrutiny by academics and other policy analysts – substantially diminishing its influence. [9] On the day of the publication of the Heritage report (May 6, 2013), Nowrasteh participated in a press call strongly critiquing the study, along with people from Americans for Tax Reform, the Kemp Foundation, and the American Action Network. [10]

On September 13, 2016, the Cato Institute published a Policy Analysis by Nowrasteh on "Terrorism and Immigration: A Risk Analysis." [11] He notes that, "Terrorism is a hazard to human life and material prosperity that should be addressed in a sensible manner whereby the benefits of actions to contain it outweigh the costs. ... [T]he chance of an American perishing in a terrorist attack on U.S. soil that was committed by a foreigner over the 41-year period studied here is 1 in 3.6 million per year. The hazard posed by foreigners who entered on different visa categories varies considerably. For instance, the chance of an American being murdered in a terrorist attack caused by a refugee is 1 in 3.64 billion per year while the chance of being murdered in an attack committed by an illegal immigrant is an astronomical 1 in 10.9 billion per year. By contrast, the chance of being murdered by a tourist on a B visa, the most common tourist visa, is 1 in 3.9 million per year. Any government response to terrorism must take account of the wide range of hazards posed by foreign-born terrorists who entered under various visa categories."

Nowrasteh (along with Michelangelo Landgrave) used a residual statistical technique to estimate the number of illegal immigrants who are incarcerated in a Cato report entitled "Criminal Immigrants: Their Numbers, Demographics, and Countries of Origin." [12] Their main finding was that "[t]he incarceration rate was 1.53 percent for natives, 0.85 percent for illegal immigrants, and 0.47 percent for legal immigrants."

Nowrasteh's academic research largely focuses on how immigrants could affect the economic institutions in destination countries. A paper by Nowrasteh on the subject in collaboration with George Mason University doctoral student Zachary Gochenour found that immigration to the United States appeared to have not had a significant impact on the welfare state viewed in either per capita or aggregate terms. The authors summarized their findings and the policy implications in an op-ed for Investors Business Daily . [13] Ilya Somin discussed the policy implications of the research in an article for The Washington Post''. [14] In May 2014, the Cato Institute published a working paper co-authored by Nowrasteh (along with J. R. Clark, Robert Lawson, Benjamin Powell, and Ryan Murphy) on the impact of immigration on institutions. The paper was later published by the journal Public Choice in April 2015. [15] Nowrasteh (along with J.R. Clark, and Benjamin Powell) also authored "Does mass immigration destroy institutions? 1990s Israel as a natural experiment" in the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization. [16] In 2019, Nowrasteh published another study in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization which concluded that there was "no relationship between immigration and terrorism, whether measured by the number of attacks or victims, in destination countries... These results hold for immigrants from both Muslim majority and conflict-torn countries of origin." [17]

Other publications

Nowrasteh has co-authored two academic papers that appeared in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization . The first with Benjamin Powell and Ryan Ford was an analysis of how Somalia's economy functioned in a stateless society. [18] [19] The second was co-authored with Professor Pete Leeson of George Mason University and is about the economics of ransom bonds, a peculiar financial instrument used in piracy during the Napoleonic Wars. [20]

Nowrasteh has also co-authored an academic paper on privateers with Alex Tabarrok that appeared in the Fletcher Security Review and another academic paper about the impact of immigration on economic freedom that appeared in the journal Public Choice. [21] The latter had numerous co-authors.

A 2019 study by Nowrasteh appeared in The World Bank Economic Review. The study found that the influx of Kuwaiti-Palestinian (Palestinians who had worked and lived in Kuwait for decades) refugees into Jordan from during the Gulf War had long-lasting positive effects on Jordanian economic institutions. [22]

Commentary

Nowrasteh has been a blogger/guest contributor for the Huffington Post , [23] for Forbes magazine, [24] and for The Hill. [25] In addition, he has written pieces for National Journal, [26] Reuters , [27] and many other major newspapers. [28] Nowrasteh has also been quoted as an expert in mainstream press pieces on immigration. [29]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cato Institute</span> American libertarian think tank

The Cato Institute is an American libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Ed Crane, Murray Rothbard, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Koch Industries. Cato was established to focus on public advocacy, media exposure and societal influence.

The libertarian perspective on immigration is often regarded as one of the core concepts of libertarian theory and philosophy. There is considerable disagreement among libertarians as to what stance towards immigration best accords with libertarian principles. Some hold that restrictions on immigration are an infringement of the rights of immigrants and other property owners and constitute a threat to individual liberty. Others maintain that open borders amount to a policy of forced integration on the part of the state, and that protecting the rights of property holders requires that present governments adopt much more discriminatory policies on who is allowed to enter a country.

The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) is an American anti-immigration think tank. It favors far lower immigration numbers and produces analyses to further those views. The CIS was founded by historian Otis L. Graham and eugenicist and white nationalist John Tanton in 1985 as a spin-off of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). It is one of a number of anti-immigration organizations founded by Tanton, along with FAIR and NumbersUSA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Immigration</span> Movement of people into another country or region to which they are not native

Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short-term stays in a destination country do not fall under the definition of immigration or migration; seasonal labour immigration is sometimes included, however.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William A. Niskanen</span> American economist (1933–2011)

William Arthur Niskanen was an American economist. He was one of the architects of President Ronald Reagan's economic program and contributed to public choice theory. He was also a long-time chairman of the Cato Institute, a libertarian think-tank.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Rector</span>

Robert E. Rector is a research fellow at The Heritage Foundation focused on poverty issues. Rector has written over 300 reports, articles, and commentaries on public policy and has testified before Congress more than 40 times. His writings include the book America's Failed $5.4 Trillion War on Poverty.

An immigration tariff or migrant levy is a charge levied on immigrants wanting permanent residency within a nation. As a means of applying price theory to a nation's immigration policy, it is generally advocated as an alternative to existing bureaucratic procedures as a means of moderating or better regulating the flow of immigration to a given level.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Welfare's effect on poverty</span>

The effects of social welfare on poverty have been the subject of various studies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeff Ray Clark</span> Economist

Jeff Ray Clark is an American economist specializing in public finance, public choice, and managerial economics. He is the Scott L. Probasco, Jr. Chair of Free Enterprise at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

The economic impact of undocumented immigrants in the United States is challenging to measure and politically contentious. Research shows that undocumented immigrants increase the size of the U.S. economy/contribute to economic growth, enhance the welfare of natives, contribute more in tax revenue than they collect, reduce American firms' incentives to offshore jobs and import foreign-produced goods, and benefit consumers by reducing the prices of goods and services.

The Immigration Policy Center (IPC) is the research and policy arm of the American Immigration Council, a 501(c)(3) organization in the United States dedicated to promoting immigration to the United States and protecting the rights and privileges of immigrants in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benjamin Powell</span> American economist (born 1978)

Benjamin W. "Ben" Powell is the director of the Free Market Institute at Texas Tech University and professor of economics at Texas Tech University's Rawls College of Business. He is also a junior fellow at the Independent Institute and the South American editor of the Review of Austrian Economics.

<i>Immigration Wars</i> Book by Jeb Bush

Immigration Wars: Forging an American Solution is a 2013 non-fiction book about immigration in the United States co-written by Jeb Bush, who served as the governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007, and Clint Bolick, who serves as the vice president of litigation at the Goldwater Institute in Phoenix, Arizona.

Mark Nowrasteh is an American playwright and screenwriter.

The Niskanen Center is an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. that advocates environmentalism, immigration reform, civil liberties, and strengthening social insurance around market-oriented principles. Named after William A. Niskanen, an economic adviser to Ronald Reagan, it states that its "main audience is Washington insiders", and characterizes itself as moderate. The organization has been credited with fostering bipartisan dialogue and promoting pragmatic solutions to contemporary political challenges on issues such as family benefits, climate change, and criminal justice reform.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RAISE Act</span> Proposed bill first introduced in the United States Senate

The RAISE Act is a bill first introduced in the United States Senate in 2017. Co-sponsored by Republican senators Tom Cotton and David Perdue, the bill seeks to reduce levels of legal immigration to the United States by 50% by halving the number of green cards issued. The bill would also dramatically reduce family-based immigration pathways; impose a cap of 50,000 refugee admissions a year; end the visa diversity lottery; and eliminate the current demand-driven model of employment-based immigration and replace it with a points system. The bill received the support of President Donald Trump, who promoted a revised version of the bill in August 2017, and was opposed by Democrats, immigrant rights groups, and some Republicans.

The issue of crimes committed by illegal immigrants to the United States is a topic that is often asserted and debated in politics and the media when discussing Immigration policy in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reihan Salam</span> American journalist

Reihan Morshed Salam is a conservative American political commentator, columnist and author who since 2019 has been president of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. He was previously executive editor of National Review, a columnist for Slate, a contributing editor at National Affairs, a contributing editor at The Atlantic, an interviewer for VICE and a fellow at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics.

<i>Melting Pot or Civil War?</i>

Melting Pot or Civil War? is a 2018 book about American immigration policy by Reihan Salam

Immigration to the United States has many effects on the culture and politics of the United States.

References

  1. 1 2 "Alex Nowrasteh". Cato Institute . Retrieved 2013-01-02.
  2. ↑ "Alex Nowrasteh". Competitive Enterprise Institute. 2008-01-15. Retrieved 2013-02-01.
  3. ↑ "The case for open borders". Vox. Retrieved 2018-11-27.
  4. ↑ Nowrasteh, Alex; Powell, Benjamin (2020). Wretched Refuse?: The Political Economy of Immigration and Institutions. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-1108477635.
  5. ↑ "20 Immigration Experts To Follow on Twitter". ABC News . 2013-01-04. Retrieved 2013-02-01.
  6. ↑ Terris, Ben (2013-07-13). "The Libertarian Case for Immigration Reform". National Journal . Archived from the original on 2013-10-17. Retrieved 2013-10-13.
  7. ↑ Jim Geraghty, https://www.nationalreview.com/2016/12/conservatives-political-correctness-alex-nowrasteh-wrong "There Is No Right-Wing Equivalent to Political Correctness" December 12, 2016
  8. ↑ Jason Richwine, https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/immigrant-welfare-study-cato-alex-nowrasteh-robert-orr "Obfuscating the Immigrant-Welfare Debate" May 15, 2018
  9. ↑ Rubin, Jennifer (2013-04-23). "Eight reasons for optimism on immigration reform". The Washington Post . Retrieved 2013-05-07.
  10. ↑ Rubin, Jennifer (2013-05-06). "Conservative leaders slam Heritage for shoddy immmigration[sic] study". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2013-05-07.
  11. ↑ Nowrasteh, Alex (September 13, 2016), Terrorism and Immigration: A Risk Analysis (Policy Analysis), Cato Institute, retrieved 2017-04-12
  12. ↑ Landgrave, Michelangelo; Nowrasteh, Alex (2017-03-15). "Criminal Immigrants: Their Numbers, Demographics, and Countries of Origin" (Immigration Research and Policy Brief) (1). Cato Institute.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  13. ↑ Nowrasteh, Alex; Gochenour, Zachary (February 14, 2014). "No, Immigrants Won't Make Welfare State Bigger". Investors Business Daily . Retrieved February 18, 2014.
  14. ↑ Somin, Ilya (February 18, 2014). "Increased immigration is unlikely to increase the size of the welfare state". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 18, 2014.
  15. ↑ Clark, J. R.; Lawson, Robert; Nowrasteh, Alex; Powell, Benjamin; Murphy, Ryan (2015). "Does immigration impact institutions?" (PDF). Public Choice. 163 (3–4): 321–335. doi:10.1007/s11127-015-0254-y. S2CID   55968273.
  16. ↑ Powell, Benjamin; Clark, J.R.; Nowrasteh, Alex (2017). "Does mass immigration destroy institutions? 1990s Israel as a natural experiment". Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization. 141: 83–95. doi:10.1016/j.jebo.2017.06.008.
  17. ↑ Forrester, Andrew C.; Powell, Benjamin; Nowrasteh, Alex; Landgrave, Michelangelo (2019-08-08). "Do immigrants import terrorism?". Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization. 166: 529–543. doi:10.1016/j.jebo.2019.07.019. ISSN   0167-2681. S2CID   202308892.
  18. ↑ Powell, Benjamin (September 2008). "Somalia after State Collapse: Chaos or Improvement?". Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization. 67 (3–4): 657–670. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.365.6345 . doi:10.1016/j.jebo.2008.04.008.
  19. ↑ Powell, Benjamin (November 2006). "In Reply To Sweatshop Sophistries" (PDF). 28 (4). Human Rights Quarterly . Retrieved February 5, 2014.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  20. ↑ "Was Privateering Plunder Efficient?" . Retrieved 2013-02-01.
  21. ↑ Clark, J. R. (2015). "Does Immigration Impact Institutions?" (PDF). Public Choice. 163 (3–4): 321–335. doi:10.1007/s11127-015-0254-y. S2CID   55968273.
  22. ↑ Blondin, Cole; Forrester, Andrew C.; Nowrasteh, Alex (2019). "How Mass Immigration Affects Countries with Weak Economic Institutions: A Natural Experiment in Jordan" (PDF). The World Bank Economic Review. 34 (2): 533–549. doi:10.1093/wber/lhy032. hdl: 10986/31559 .
  23. ↑ "Alex Nowrasteh". The Huffington Post . Retrieved 2013-02-01.
  24. ↑ "Alex Nowrasteh". Forbes . Retrieved 2013-02-01.
  25. ↑ "Brat's immigration stance doesn't square with his free-market flair". 2014-06-11.
  26. ↑ Nowrasteh, Alex (2012-07-10). "Opinion: In Praise of Birthright Citizenship". National Journal. Retrieved 2013-02-01.
  27. ↑ Nowrasteh, Alex (2013-01-29). "Immigration Plan Does Only Half the Job". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2013-02-04. Retrieved 2013-02-01.
  28. ↑ "Alex Nowrasteh".
  29. ↑ Bennett, Bryan (2013-01-21). "Republican allies advocate for immigration reform". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 2013-02-01.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.