BiggerPockets Money Podcast · Friday, October 2, 2026
Jay Scott explains that immigration policy has a dual effect on inflation. On the supply side, reduced immigration can lead to higher labor costs and thus increased prices. Conversely, on the demand side, fewer immigrants mean less demand for goods and services, which can put downward pressure on prices.
“And immigration to some degree has led to higher prices on the supply side. When you kick people out who are picking crops in our fields and building our houses and building our commercial structures, and the price of all those translates to higher prices throughout the supply chain.”
“In the demand side, if they are now no longer in the country, that's going to reduce demand and that reduction in demand is ultimately going to push prices down. So yeah, so I was focusing more on the supply side. I wasn't thinking about the demand side, but it's certainly a fair characterization to say that immigration policy has had kind of a double-edged effect on inflation.”