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“The Economics of Immigration” by Fernanda Santos

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Reynolds Center for Business Journalism
Reynolds Center for Business Journalism

The economics of immigration tells a multifaceted story that combines business, social, and political aspects. It is most effectively told through both statistical data and humanizing examples. The makeup of the workforce provides insights into broader demographic and social changes, as well as predictors of economic, political, and social trends. Securing the US-Mexico border is important, but must be done in a way that does not unnecessarily stifle the $216 billion in annual trade between the two countries, which supports millions of jobs on both sides and is crucial to both economies. Border communities aspire to be more than just points of transit and want to capture more local economic value from the large volume of trade passing through the region.

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The economics of immigration Broadening the boundaries of business reporting
! Look at the business of business journalism as everybody’s business in journalism. ! ! ! Partner (yes, work together) with journalists who are not business journalists.
Shops Emerge From Ruins of Jackson Heights Fire Maria Solano in her party store on 37th Avenue in Jackson Heights, Queens. After a fire in February, Ms. Solano was forced into a much smaller space that she now shares with a travel agency, a hair salon, a clothing shop and a spa. (Marilynn K. Yee/The New York Times)
… the going has been tough, in part because it has been hard for small businesses to survive in a gentrifying neighborhood like Jackson Heights, where the price of commercial space has shot up in recent years, forcing many old-timers to close shop. (In an interesting twist, one of the burned-out businesses, Colony Wine and Liquor, will reopen next month in the space that had housed Cavalier Restaurant and Lounge, a neighborhood institution, for more than 50 years. The restaurant shut down in February because of a sudden spike in rent.)
Immigrants Are Crucial to Innovation, Study Says Wenyuan Shi, a native of China, earned a patent in 2011 for the active ingredient in a lollipop that can help prevent tooth decay. (Credit: UCLA School of Dentistry)
STRUCTURE! ! Option 1:! findings => expert => example: story driven by the facts! ! Option 2:! story driven by stories
Effort to Secure Border Crimps Commerce Along It Agua Prieta, Mexico, has a main street directly south of the border fence that is active with people and businesses. Credit Samantha Sais for The New York Times
tight angles + big thoughts, statistics = humanization humanization => broader appeal of “dry” stories. ! ! The key is to put a face to the numbers.! !
Bangladeshis transforming Buffalo, one block at a time Families use life savings to buy, renovate run-down homes in city’s poorest neighborhoods
His winning bid was $42,000. Just five years ago, $3,450 was the average price of a double in the same area of Bailey. The auction story is the same for houses on other streets where the Bangladeshis have bought, and many properties are fetching more than what’s owed to the city, leading to the record auction surplus money for foreclosed owners. In 2009, a slate of 826 properties sold for $4.6 million at the auction. Five years later, 808 properties yielded $9.2 million.
The economics of immigration is ! a business story AND a social and political story that is more effectively told when all of these aspects are combined.
They are examples of how global outsourcing companies are using temporary visas to bring in foreign workers who do not appear to have exceptional skills — according to interviews with a dozen current or former employees of Toys “R” Us and New York Life — to help ship out jobs, mainly to India.
the makeup of the workforce => window into demographic and social changes AND predictors of political, social and economic trends.
!•!Mexico is the second largest destination of U.S. goods and services after Canada => $216 billion in total exports in 2012, more than Japan and China combined.! !•!Mexico is the United States’ third largest trading partner. Bilateral trade levels have quintupled since NAFTA signed in 1994.! !•!Close to 80 percent of bilateral trade crosses the U.S.-Mexico land border every day.! (Source: Five Reasons Why the U.S.-Mexico Border is Critical to the Economy by AS/COA, the Americas Society/Council of the Americas.)
A secure border is vital, but so is a border that provides security in a way that does not result in the unintended consequence of unnecessarily stifling commerce.
More than six million U.S. jobs—and probably an even greater number of Mexican jobs— now depend on bilateral trade. Yet the economic vision of the border embedded in such a trade- facilitation approach can be limiting. The border essentially becomes little more than a point of friction in an otherwise seamless binational economy. Border communities aspire to be more than a node on a transportation network, more than what many of them have titled a “pass- through economy,” one in which too little value is added locally to the billions of dollars of commerce passing through its corridors each year.

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“The Economics of Immigration” by Fernanda Santos

  • 1. The economics of immigration Broadening the boundaries of business reporting
  • 2. ! Look at the business of business journalism as everybody’s business in journalism. ! ! ! Partner (yes, work together) with journalists who are not business journalists.
  • 3. Shops Emerge From Ruins of Jackson Heights Fire Maria Solano in her party store on 37th Avenue in Jackson Heights, Queens. After a fire in February, Ms. Solano was forced into a much smaller space that she now shares with a travel agency, a hair salon, a clothing shop and a spa. (Marilynn K. Yee/The New York Times)
  • 4. … the going has been tough, in part because it has been hard for small businesses to survive in a gentrifying neighborhood like Jackson Heights, where the price of commercial space has shot up in recent years, forcing many old-timers to close shop. (In an interesting twist, one of the burned-out businesses, Colony Wine and Liquor, will reopen next month in the space that had housed Cavalier Restaurant and Lounge, a neighborhood institution, for more than 50 years. The restaurant shut down in February because of a sudden spike in rent.)
  • 5. Immigrants Are Crucial to Innovation, Study Says Wenyuan Shi, a native of China, earned a patent in 2011 for the active ingredient in a lollipop that can help prevent tooth decay. (Credit: UCLA School of Dentistry)
  • 6. STRUCTURE! ! Option 1:! findings => expert => example: story driven by the facts! ! Option 2:! story driven by stories
  • 7. Effort to Secure Border Crimps Commerce Along It Agua Prieta, Mexico, has a main street directly south of the border fence that is active with people and businesses. Credit Samantha Sais for The New York Times
  • 8. tight angles + big thoughts, statistics = humanization humanization => broader appeal of “dry” stories. ! ! The key is to put a face to the numbers.! !
  • 9. Bangladeshis transforming Buffalo, one block at a time Families use life savings to buy, renovate run-down homes in city’s poorest neighborhoods
  • 10. His winning bid was $42,000. Just five years ago, $3,450 was the average price of a double in the same area of Bailey. The auction story is the same for houses on other streets where the Bangladeshis have bought, and many properties are fetching more than what’s owed to the city, leading to the record auction surplus money for foreclosed owners. In 2009, a slate of 826 properties sold for $4.6 million at the auction. Five years later, 808 properties yielded $9.2 million.
  • 11. The economics of immigration is ! a business story AND a social and political story that is more effectively told when all of these aspects are combined.
  • 12. They are examples of how global outsourcing companies are using temporary visas to bring in foreign workers who do not appear to have exceptional skills — according to interviews with a dozen current or former employees of Toys “R” Us and New York Life — to help ship out jobs, mainly to India.
  • 13. the makeup of the workforce => window into demographic and social changes AND predictors of political, social and economic trends.
  • 14. !•!Mexico is the second largest destination of U.S. goods and services after Canada => $216 billion in total exports in 2012, more than Japan and China combined.! !•!Mexico is the United States’ third largest trading partner. Bilateral trade levels have quintupled since NAFTA signed in 1994.! !•!Close to 80 percent of bilateral trade crosses the U.S.-Mexico land border every day.! (Source: Five Reasons Why the U.S.-Mexico Border is Critical to the Economy by AS/COA, the Americas Society/Council of the Americas.)
  • 15. A secure border is vital, but so is a border that provides security in a way that does not result in the unintended consequence of unnecessarily stifling commerce.
  • 16. More than six million U.S. jobs—and probably an even greater number of Mexican jobs— now depend on bilateral trade. Yet the economic vision of the border embedded in such a trade- facilitation approach can be limiting. The border essentially becomes little more than a point of friction in an otherwise seamless binational economy. Border communities aspire to be more than a node on a transportation network, more than what many of them have titled a “pass- through economy,” one in which too little value is added locally to the billions of dollars of commerce passing through its corridors each year.