This chapter aims to lay out the basis for a sound understanding of the origins of contemporary immigration and for viable policies toward it. Here we dissect the disconnect between the public perception of immigration and the underlying realities rooted in the political economy of the nation...

This chapter examines three distinct phases of international migration to the U.S. over the last century and a third: (1) the Great European Waves of the period from 1880 to 1930, which accompanied the American industrial revolution, reached a historic zenith in 1910 when 14.7 percent of the...