America’s Exceptional Labor Force

Published: July 10, 2018

America’s economy benefits from its mobile society and dynamic labor force. American rates of mobility are much higher than in other developed countries. And immigrants in America come to work. In fact, workforce participation by immigrants is higher than that of native-born Americans.

Click below to watch the other videos in Examining America's Exceptional Economy.

This four-part video series explores what has made America's economy successful, what sets it apart from other nations, and what needs to be done to sustain its prominence in the global economy. Lazear shows that America and its people have prospered by prioritizing economic freedom, industriousness, low taxes, light regulation, free trade, and openness to immigration.

 

Edward Lazear studies labor markets, tax reform, human capital, and their effects on economic growth. He is the Morris Arnold and Nona Jean Cox Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and the Davies Family Professor of Economics at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business. He also served at the White House from 2006 to 2009 as a chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers.

 

Additional Resources

Related

Working Papers

A Network Approach to Geopolitics

Economics Working Paper 26127

October 16, 2026

Videos

The Counter Revolution: Victor Davis Hanson On The Fall And Rise Of Trump

How did Donald Trump go from political defeat and the aftermath of January 6 to a second term in the White House?

 

October 19, 2026

Videos

Monetary Policy And The Shadow Open Market Committee Since The 1970s

Mickey Levy on his early career working with Alice Rivlin at the Congressional Budget Office and with Arthur Burns at AEI, as well as being part of the Shadow Open Markets Committee from its early days in the 1970s.

October 16, 2026