Pluses and Minuses Regarding Visas for Foreign Ph.D.s
Gordon Crovitz's call for more high-tech immigrants repeats an argument we frequently see on the pages of the Journal ( Information Age, Oct. 1). Yet engineering work is shifting from developed countries to developing countries for a reason. Engineering, when done properly, follows international standards in proceduralizing the work. When engineering work is proceduralized, it can be outsourced, just as assembly work is procedural work that is more cost effectively done in low-wage developing countries. Importing millions of engineers from developing countries isn't going to change the macroeconomic laws that compel this outsourcing. It will worsen our economic plight because it works against our comparative advantage of integrating microeconomic behaviors into efficient macroeconomic function.</br></br>Most promising developing countries cannot grow past low GDP per capita levels because their microeconomic behavior tends toward collectivism, cronyism, mistrust of others, safety nets, corruption, dishonesty and envious slamming of those who are richer or more powerful. To improve our GDP, we need people who believe in individualism, merit, trust in financial transactions/investing, honesty, hard work and grit. Those microeconomic behaviors are the only means of boosting our economic function beyond the high GDP per capita barrier that is unreachable for almost all countries.</br></br>Tom Fix</br></br>Bellevue, Wash.</br></br>I am not opposed to letting skilled immigrants get a green card for working in the U.S. However, as the president of a high-tech company (six Ph.D.s among 17 employees), there is the risk of hiring too many of any one group, which will create a company within the company. It happened to my company. At one point I had eight Chinese employees working for us. It wasn't manageable--there were the Chinese and the others and no communication between the groups. Fortunately, most of them left on their own.