Raw StoryA Nobel Prize-winning economist warned on Wednesday that one of President Donald Trump's economic policies could do even more harm than his tariffs.
Paul Krugman, who won the Nobel Prize in 2008 for his contributions to trade theory and economic geography, wrote on Substack that Trump's immigration policies are pushing the U.S. economy to the brink. He added that arresting and deporting workers will be even worse for the economy than what has been portrayed in the media.
"In fact, my guess is that arrests and deportations will eventually do even more economic harm than tariffs," Krugman wrote.
Trump has made immigration enforcement a central part of his second administration. He has promised to deport as many as 11 million undocumented immigrants, although media reports suggest some American citizens have been swept up in these efforts.
To Krugman, the policy could have significant impacts on the economy.
"Losing large numbers of workers sounds as if it will be bad for the U.S. economy," Krugman's essay continued. "In fact, it will be worse than you may think."
"The reason is that immigrant workers aren’t spread evenly across the economy," he added. "They’re strongly concentrated in certain industries and occupations, where they constitute a large share, sometimes a majority, of the workforce. As a result, the Trump administration’s latter-day Edict of Expulsion will be far more disruptive to the economy than the aggregate number of workers deported might suggest."
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