Source: EconLog
by Kevin Corcoran
“The title of this post is a nod to Alfred Marshall, who stressed that supply and demand analysis required we think about ‘both blades of the scissors.’ Prices are not set by supply or demand alone – it is the interaction between the two that is crucial. It is for this reason Greg Mankiw once wisely commented that he was neither a supply-side economist nor a demand-side economist. He was a supply-and-demand economist. This came to mind because I recently saw a journalist make a remark on Twitter I’ve seen in numerous forms before. Speaking out against immigration, this journalist declared it was obvious that increases in immigration – legal or otherwise – would decrease the wages of American workers, because ‘the law of supply and demand applies to labor too: more labor means cheaper labor.’ This is doing analysis with one blade of the scissors.” (01/17/25)
https://www.econlib.org/the-wielders-of-one-bladed-scissors/