George Borjas on his journey from Cuba to Harvard and his work on the “hot” topic of immigration

George Borjas, the Robert W. Scrivner Professor of Economics and Social Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, discusses his early life in Cuba, his experiences as an immigrant in the United States, his schooling at Columbia University, and his thoughts on the current immigration debate in the United States. 

In this episode, Borjas and Ashenfelter discuss:

• Borjas’s upbringing in Cuba and how he left at the age of 12 when Fidel Castro came to power. “...my family … owned a very, very small clothing factory, which immediately got confiscated by the Castro government.” 
• Borjas’s undergraduate schooling at the Jesuit-run St. Peter’s University in New Jersey and his initial ambivalence about his career path. “The only thing I was really good at that I sort of liked was math. I couldn't really be a scientist, because I don't like being in labs. So, I said to myself, ‘What can I do with math?’ 
• Borjas’s budding interest in immigration policy when he was at U.C. Santa Barbara. “The reason that I got interested in immigration was because I was in Santa Barbara, and you could see the place changing … And in Southern California, you could really see the place changing, almost overnight.” 
• Borjas’s decision to write his book We Wanted Workers in 2016 was prompted by a publisher’s request for him to present his immigration research to a broader, less technical audience.
• Borjas’s poolside conversation about immigration with Arnold Schwartzenegger when the actor was contemplating running for the California governorship. “...I thought he was one of the cleverest people that I've met in the political arena.” 
• Borjas’s thoughts on the current immigration debate. “I think illegal immigration really contaminates the whole debate. It's very hard to talk about what kind of immigration policy to have, and what's the best thing for us, if your border is sort of wide open.” 

George Borjas earned his Ph.D. in economics from Columbia University in 1975. He is currently the Robert W. Scrivner Professor of Economics and Social Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. He is also a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)."The Work Goes On"—a podcast produced by Princeton's Industrial Relations Section (IR Section) --is an oral history of industrial relations and labor economics hosted by Princeton's Orley Ashenfelter.