Foreign Policy on the Nanny-Driven Economic Miracle

Harvard economists Michael Kremer and Stanley Watt have released a study claiming that importing a certain amount of cheap labor - such as nannies - does wonderful good for an economy. James G. Forsyth of Foreign Policy explains:

Kremer explains his findings by pointing out that domestic workers can increase a country's supply of highly skilled workers by allowing well-educated parents (generally mothers) to remain in the workforce. Household help is actually far more liberating to parents than day care, he argues, because nannies let them work the long hours required by many highpowered, highpaying jobs.

Of course, one wonders whether Kremer and Watt actually looked at this issue in its totality or whether they only looked at the fiscal aspects of the matter. Given what passes for economics, I suspect the latter. Specifically, I doubt whether they reported on the social impacts of the importation of cheap labor from foreign countries. For instance, are cheap Korean or Filipino nannies imported into Japan healthy for either party? Is importing Mexican nannies to their "lost territories" a dangerous situation? Does creating a "nanny employing class" lead to decadence and an elite class that becomes even further estranged from their (supposed) fellow citizens? Real economists would cover those issues, but I would be surprised if Kremer and Watt did.

Immigration · Wed, 01/03/2007 - 07:20 · · Importance: 1