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If current levels of immigration continue, there will be higher percentages in other states as well. S. centers around three key policy questions: (1) how many to admit, (2) which ones to admit, and (3) under what conditions. 28 Central Questions About Immigration • Economic effec t s − a g g r eg a t e − d i s tr i b ut i on a l • Public sector effec t s • Assimilation − e c o no m i c − s o c ia l • Externalit i es The debate about these three questions revolves around the economic and social effects of immigration.

Leadership is crucial. Attitudes toward immigration among the American public, for example, are notoriously volatile. They are extremely susceptible to economic conditions and to how the media frames the issue. As a result, it is very difficult to know whether the public really understands what the issues are. Leadership has to frame the issues before the public can make an informed decision. 38 Fifth, the issues these phenomena raise do not lend themselves to simple answers. Immigration policy in this country has been contentious issue.

I am simplifying the underlying arguments to make a point–that is, that coping with population growth in the future will be even more difficult if large segments of the developed world view technological change not as a potential way around the law of diminishing returns but rather as potential threat to the world as we know it. Because this growing skepticism about the effects of technological change represents such a departure from the historical pattern, it could serve as an unknown or wild card in the policy debate.