More than 100 "Conservative" Economists Urge Immigration Overhaul? I don't think so.

A letter released by 109 economists urges Congress to pass a sweeping immigration overhaul, claiming that it will help the economy and reduce the deficit.  It has been getting some attention at the WSJ and Politico.  I am dubious that they are right.  But what is clear is that not all these signers are "conservatives" by any means.

Take June O’Neill, who served as OMB director for President Clinton.   

John Makin may be at AEI, but I know him and he is a Keynesian economist.

Note also some of the mistakes.  Steven Davis from the University of Chicago and Davis Steven from the University of Chicago are obviously the same person (I do know the real Steven Davis).  John Makin  at AEI is listed twice.  The 109 number removes these two double counting from the total.  Compare that to the 353 who signed a letter supporting McCain in 2008 or the 784 who supported Mitt Romney.  Here are nine economists who signed the immigration letter but who did not sign the letter supporting Romney (the six in italics signed the letter for McCain, though many more didn't sign the letter for McCain).

Antony Davies, Duquesne University 

James Forcier, Hult International Business School 

K.C. Fung, University of California, Santa Cruz 

William Gissy, KIMEP University 

Claudio Gonzalez-Vega, Ohio State University 

Stuart Hoffman, PNC Financial Services Group 

Philip Rothman, East Carolina University 

Scott Sumner, Bentley University 

William Trumbull, West Virginia University