Trump’s Science Policies Pose Long-Term Risk, Economists Warn
Outlet: New York Times
Since World War II, U.S. research funding has led to discoveries that fueled economic gains. Now cutbacks are seen as putting that legacy in jeopardy.
President Trump’s tariffs could drive up prices. His efforts to reduce the federal work force could increase unemployment. But ask economists which of the administration’s policies they are most concerned about and many point to cuts to federal support for scientific research.
Immigrants have long played a disproportionate role in scientific and technological advancement in the United States. A 2022 study found that immigrants have accounted for 36 percent of total innovation in the country since 1990, as measured through patents, despite making up less than 20 percent of the population. They are also more likely to start companies and to work at start-ups than native-born Americans.
“Immigrants are really critical, they punch above their weight,” said Britta Glennon, a University of Pennsylvania economist who has studied the role of immigrants in innovation.
Even without formal shifts in immigration policy, she added, the United States could become less attractive to global talent if foreign students and scientists no longer see the country as welcoming. A recent working paper by Dr. Glennon and three co-authors found that Chinese students became less likely to study in the United States during the first Trump administration, even before it established formal restrictions.
“We know that international students are responsive to how they perceive the labor market to be in the U.S. and how receptive it’ll be for immigrants,” she said. “It’s pretty clear that it is not super receptive right now, so that is going to have effects.”
Photo credit: Lexey Swall for The New York Times