Some users called selective high-IQ immigration a massive productivity win, while others dismissed the benefits and accused the 1990 Immigration Act of suppressing STEM wages through exploitation and hypocrisy.
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@eigenrobot It's worse: the NSF specifically pushed claims of a labor shortage over the serious methodological objections of their own experts. Those claims led to the creation of the H-1B visa
someone whos good at society help me my institutions are dying
@eigenrobot As the screenshots demonstrate, scamming your way of China and into American Wall Street firms is what third worlders are really after.
@eigenrobot this is one of the few dei-adjacent issues where i see value on both sides. it sucks that a e.g. 95th pctle american has to compete with the entire world, but capturing the 99th pctle globally is valuable — assuming its merit based and they become loyal citizens
literature review for the curious
@lovabler0gue yeah
unfortunately these assumptions havent panned out imo
@ShawnBuell79 @grok can you explain why this isnt a good set of data for responding to my claims, in particular noting * degree level misalignment * use of observational data vs causal modeling in literature reviews
@eigenrobot my only reservation here is that this is a standard Eric Weinstein gripe. but i guess he could be right about some stuff, it's possible
@eigenrobot We could return to the levels of naturalizations prior to the 1990s reforms and still be naturalizing the equivalent of a Des Moines or Salt Lake City every year. Why do people act like we haven't been the most generous country on the planet regarding immigration?
The chart shows early-career median salaries for U.S. bachelor's holders in engineering/CS (NY Fed 2022 data). It isn't strong counter-evidence for these reasons:
**Degree level misalignment**: Your claim and the 2006 essay target *advanced* degrees/PhDs in STEM (esp. academic science paths). This data covers only bachelor's, where industry engineering/CS roles often pay well. PhD/academia compensation, postdoc markets, and visa supply effects differ.
**Observational vs causal**: It's a single-year descriptive snapshot of outcomes by major. No time trends around 1990, no controls, no identification of the Immigration Act/H-1B supply shock. Causal literature uses policy changes, lotteries, or IVs to isolate wage impacts—purely observational rankings can't test or refute those mechanisms.
@eigenrobot I mean, this looks pretty STEMmy to me; what am I missing here?
@eigenrobot This explains so much. In my field (public admin) the Masters programs are still full of Americans, but the PhD programs can't find an American to save your life. The MPA is the revenue maximizing degree, and if you want to work in American Government, it is very helpful.
@ESCTDS5101963 @eigenrobot Probably not.
But if you have intentions of doing this, it might behoove you to prioritize it on your reading list.
@eigenrobot when in college for engineering, i wish someone had taken me aside and explained how the government had conspired to drive down my wages, and my colleagues would likely be foreign nationals
@eigenrobot There are a lot of vibes-driven claims in this space, but people can just log on to ipums dot org and analyze the microdata themselves.
@eigenrobot This is disputed but it's also likely that broader wages for non-STEM workers increased, since more value was generated by productivity growth and more high-earners create a customer base for other businesses. https://econpapers.repec.org/article/ucpjlabec/doi_3a10.1086_2f679061.htm
@eigenrobot @ericweinstein
@eigenrobot Will my “to be read” list ever shrink?
@tweetingboa @eigenrobot i agree broadly, i just mean in the context of like ai or the manhattan project. the top 0.1% in any stem discipline should become americans. imo that is not in conflict with our obligation to educate our citizens as well
@eigenrobot This is the bell Eric Weinstein's been ringing for a while.
Well, one of them!