Immigration’s cognitive externalities

Low‑skill immigration can change population mixes in ways that affect more than wages and GDP — the author argues it alters average traits correlated with crime, trust, and civic cooperation (what he frames as 'national IQ' effects), producing social externalities that standard economic models overlook. The piece combines occupational composition data (Jason Richwine/Census) and cross‑country comparison (Japan) to claim these externalities may outweigh modest productivity complementarities. — If true, this reframes immigration policy from a narrow fiscal/economic calculus to a broader social‑cohesion and public‑goods evaluation, affecting admission criteria, settlement policy, and integration investments.