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Reposted by Alexander Kustov

Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 6d

What counts as progress on immigration when we can't even agree on the basics? In my new essay, I argue that durable progress requires compromise and suggest possible shared benchmarks with a focus on state capacity.

Read the full piece here: tinyurl.com/4u27yx5d (I didn’t choose the header/cover)

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 6d

What counts as progress on immigration when we can't even agree on the basics? In my new essay, I argue that durable progress requires compromise and suggest possible shared benchmarks with a focus on state capacity.

Read the full piece here: tinyurl.com/4u27yx5d (I didn’t choose the header/cover)

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 9d

At this point, LinkedIn is weirdly the only social media website where a constructive, respectful disagreement can happen.

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Reposted by Alexander Kustov

Josh McCrain @joshmccrain.bsky.social · 13d

The University of Utah Department of Political Science is hiring a department chair at the rank of Full Professor! This job is open to any subfield.

Let me know if you have questions about the search, including (as you likely are wondering) why we are hiring an external chair.

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 13d

Thank you for being so welcoming, I appreciate it! Hope you have a good day.

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 13d

This website makes me sad :(

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Reposted by Alexander Kustov

Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 14d

Depolarization is not "a scalable solution for reducing societal-level conflict.... achieving lasting depolarization will likely require....moving beyond individual-level treatments to address the elite behaviors and structural incentives that fuel partisan conflict" www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

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Reposted by Alexander Kustov

Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 19d

Do voters prefer refugees to economic immigrants? A simple question that decades of social science still can't answer.

In my new piece, I go down the rabbit hole of why the evidence is mixed, and what that means for debates about populist accommodation.

alexanderkustov.substack.com/p/do-people-...

Do People Like Refugees more than Economic Immigrants?

A simple question that our best research still hasn't settled

alexanderkustov.substack.com

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 15d

You can have multiple blogs, too.

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 15d

Seriously, though, what is stopping you from doing this?

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 16d

My prediction: Europe will do absolutely nothing beyond a handful of symbolic gestures.

Paul Hünermund @p-hunermund.com · 18d

What will Europe do to absorb the talent that's pushed out of the U.S.?

River_Tam @rivertam.bsky.social · 18d

Microsoft gave guidance on H1Bs to its employees last night

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Reposted by Alexander Kustov

Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 18d

My hottest take of the day for the survey methods & immigration crowd:

Conjoint experiments on immigrant profile choice are not a good way to know whether refugees are more popular than economic immigrants (or any other descriptive Q about immigration policy preferences).

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Reposted by Alexander Kustov

Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 18d

The H-1B program has flaws, but effectively ending it would be worse. Many analysts instead suggest reforms like prioritizing higher wages.

But what also matters is that Americans support H-1B visas, so the proposed changes run against public opinion.

alexanderkustov.substack.com/p/why-skille...

Why Skilled Migration Is Popular

It’s not what you think

alexanderkustov.substack.com

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Reposted by Alexander Kustov

Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 16d

Good summary of the H-1B situation by @sampeak.bsky.social

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Reposted by Alexander Kustov

Mollie Gerver @mgerver.bsky.social · 16d

An excellent defence by @akoustov.bsky.social of a policy where private citizens can use their own money to bring over and support refugees, who are given permanent residency on arrival or later. In the US this is supported by even most Republicans.
alexanderkustov.substack.com/p/why-dont-y...

"Why Don't You House Them Yourself?" — Because I Legally Can't

The political promise and limits of private refugee sponsorship

alexanderkustov.substack.com

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 16d

My sense is that many things they do is unpopular, but certainly not most everything. Besides, even fully authoritarian regimes care about public opinion to some extent.

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 16d

Good summary of the H-1B situation by @sampeak.bsky.social

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Reposted by Alexander Kustov

Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · Dec 27

As for the specific visas Musk referred to (H1Bs), research suggests they are associated with more job creation for native-born Americas; losing out on these visas is associated with more offshoring of other U.S. jobs. www.nber.org/papers/w27538

How Do Restrictions on High-Skilled Immigration Affect Offshoring? Evidence from the H-1B Program

Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...

www.nber.org

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 18d

In sum, the proposed crackdown defies not only expert judgment about our national interests but also what most Americans actually want from immigration policy.

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 18d

Would support drop if people heard more about abuse? Perhaps. But if they also heard about the potential economic benefits and need for skilled visas, support would likely rise further.

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 18d

Recent polls that ask directly about H-1B confirm this: Rasmussen (July 2025) found 67% of likely voters approve of the program, and Economist/YouGov (January 2025) found 51% want visa numbers kept the same or increased.

www.rasmussenreports.com/public_conte...

H-1B Visa Program Still Has Majority Approval

Despite criticism that H-1B visas undermine wages for American workers, most voters still favor the federal program.

www.rasmussenreports.com

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 18d

Pushback has come mainly from a narrow slice of Republican elites opposed to immigration in general. Efforts to mobilize public anger around H-1B have consistently fallen flat, especially compared to the border issues.

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 18d

Critics argue H-1B visas are misused and don't always bring in the most skilled workers. They have a point. But unlike illegal immigration or asylum pressures, there has never been broad bottom-up opposition to H-1B. To my best knowledge, no major protest movement has ever formed against them.

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 18d

Doctors, engineers, and other professionals are consistently seen as assets because their contributions are intuitive: they fill needed jobs, pay taxes, and integrate quickly. Research shows this support reflects not just limited labor competition but recognition of clear societal benefits.

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 18d

Public support for skilled immigration is unusually strong. Some polls find "admitting more high-skilled immigrants" to be one of the few immigration ideas with bipartisan agreement.

www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...

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