Vice President Kamala Harris visited Guatemala this week amid surges in U.S. border crossings, immigrants dying while trying to cross the border, and a chaotic, problematic federal response. It would be a mistake, though, to blame the Biden or Trump administrations for our current crisis: this is a crisis borne from the lack of opportunities in many Central American nations and especially in the northern triangle of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.
What the people of the region need most is jobs. Welfare programs and spending policies to ameliorate poverty provide only temporary relief. Redistribution does not do much to address these issues, either. In the long term, a job – along with an environment that fosters more job creation and economic opportunity – is the most important factor necessary for upward social mobility. If more residents of the region saw their economic futures tied to a job in their home country, fewer would make the perilous trek northward. Geographic mobility becomes a necessity when social mobility is not possible.
The northern triangle labors under the weight of decades of misguided economic policies, high crime, and corruption that has led to its continued underdevelopment and lack of opportunity. Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador all rank poorly in the World Justice Project’s Rule of Law index, the World Bank’s Doing Business Index, and the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index, indices which measure the economic health and vitality of nations, and which investors study closely when deciding where to put their money internationally.
Continue reading at Real Clear Policy.
Juan Jose Daboub is the chairman and CEO of The Daboub Partnership. He serves on the board of directors for the Archbridge Institute.
Economics of Flourishing
Vice President Kamala Harris visited Guatemala this week amid surges in U.S. border crossings, immigrants dying while trying to cross the border, and a chaotic, problematic federal response. It would be a mistake, though, to blame the Biden or Trump administrations for our current crisis: this is a crisis borne from the lack of opportunities in many Central American nations and especially in the northern triangle of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.
What the people of the region need most is jobs. Welfare programs and spending policies to ameliorate poverty provide only temporary relief. Redistribution does not do much to address these issues, either. In the long term, a job – along with an environment that fosters more job creation and economic opportunity – is the most important factor necessary for upward social mobility. If more residents of the region saw their economic futures tied to a job in their home country, fewer would make the perilous trek northward. Geographic mobility becomes a necessity when social mobility is not possible.
The northern triangle labors under the weight of decades of misguided economic policies, high crime, and corruption that has led to its continued underdevelopment and lack of opportunity. Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador all rank poorly in the World Justice Project’s Rule of Law index, the World Bank’s Doing Business Index, and the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index, indices which measure the economic health and vitality of nations, and which investors study closely when deciding where to put their money internationally.
Continue reading at Real Clear Policy.
Juan Jose Daboub
Juan Jose Daboub is the chairman and CEO of The Daboub Partnership. He serves on the board of directors for the Archbridge Institute.
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