ROLE OF IMMIGRATION IN AMERICAN SOCIETY’S WELL-BEING

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ROLE OF IMMIGRATION IN AMERICAN SOCIETY’S WELL-BEING
Alexander Mechitov, University of Montevallo, Montevallo, Alabama, USA
Helen Moshkovich, University of Montevallo, Montevallo, Alabama, USA
ABSTRACT
World immigration is on the rise and it has many economic and political ramifications. Since the last
presidential campaign in the U.S., immigration has become one of the most debated issues in American
politics. This paper analyzes the role of immigrants in American prosperity. First, the paper overviews
both historic and current immigration statistics and compares immigration rates in the U.S. with such
rates in other developed countries. The paper examines the role and importance of immigrants in
different areas of the American economy from hi-tech and digital industries to construction, agriculture
and accommodation services. The study also compares American immigration policy with such policies in
other countries and argues in favor of the merit-based policy. The paper concludes by emphasizing the
positive role of immigration on the American job market and especially the importance of attracting high-
skilled specialists for keeping American leading positions in the global economy.
Keywords: the U.S. immigration, immigrants in the U.S. economy, immigration policy, immigration visas
1. INTRODUCTION
For many years before and during the 21st century until the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic in
2020, the immigration all over the world was on the rise. According to United Nations data, in 2019, the
total number of international migrants was about 272 million and has increased by about 23% since 2010.
(DESA, 2019). Today number of migrants represents almost 3.5% of the global population. If in the past
immigration was associated only with western countries, today countries with a large number of
immigrants whether in absolute terms or in per capita numbers can be found in the Middle East (like UAE
and Saudi Arabia), in South Asia (India), in Eastern Europe (Russia and Poland), and in Latin America
(Columbia and Panama).
There are many reasons for the active growth of immigration including globalization of the world economy,
ease of transportation across the globe, climate change, international conflicts, and many others.
However, two factors, to our mind, act as the main contributors to the increasing flow of people over
national borders. First, search for a better life by those living in less developed countries during the times
when everyone is aware of potential perspectives thanks to the Internet. Second, since WWII, almost all
developed countries have used immigration as an important instrument to expand their aging workforce
and to bolster their economic expansion. As a result, large-scale immigration has become an important
social phenomenon, generating intensive political and economic debates in many countries.
In 2016 American presidential campaign immigration became one of the most important political subjects.
Opponents of immigration argue that immigration to the U.S. is primarily a one-way road as immigrants
get more from the country than they contribute to its well-being. Other critics of immigration insist that
immigrants undermine the American job market and thus suppress salaries. Another popular argument
claims that immigrants disproportionally contribute to crime rates in America.
This paper reviews the role immigrants play in the U.S., primarily considering their contribution to different
sectors of the American economy and their substantial role in increasing American intellectual capital. We
analyze the roles and impacts of both high-skilled and low-skilled immigration, current immigration
policies in the U.S. in comparison with similar policies in other countries, and discuss possible ways of
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making immigration less contradictory and more beneficial to the American society. The analysis of the
pros and cons of immigration to the U.S. is extensively based on the most recent statistical data available.
Though some of these data are 4-5 years old, we find it possible to use them in our study as immigration
trends and labor statistics they illustrate are quite stable with a high level of inertia and thus can be used
for overall macroanalysis and conclusions.
2. BASIC IMMIGRATION STATISTICS
The United States is well known to be a country of immigrants. Over the history of the U.S., the country
went through different waves and types of immigration. In 1790, Congress adopted the first law
concerning immigration rules. The first part of the 19th century was accompanied by a big inflow of
immigrants from Ireland and Germany. American industrialization between 1880 and 1920 brought
another peak in immigration, this time primarily from Southern and Eastern Europe. This period was
marked by opening the first immigration center in Ellis Island in 1892, which alone processed 1.3 million
immigrants in 1907. During Cold War, there were several big waves of immigration from Cuba, Vietnam
and other communist countries with a steady growth of overall immigration to the U.S. The average
number of immigrants with permanent resident status was close to 400,000 in 1880-1920 with peak
numbers over a million in 1905-10. The number dropped to about 100,000 in 1920-50, it was gradually
increasing in 1960-80, peaked at 1.5 million in 1990, and fluctuates around 1 million since 2000 (Batalova
et al, 2020).
1860 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Immigration as % of the U.S. population Number of immigrants (millions)
Fig. 1. The U.S. immigrant population and share over time
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Illegal immigrants represented another big source of immigration. Globalization, easier transportation, and
to some degree liberal American legislature contributed to rising numbers of illegal immigration to the
U.S., which is estimated to be close to a million people annually in the last 20-25 years before Donald
Trump presidency. As a result, an overall number of immigrants in the country has skyrocketed since
1980 (Fig.1), in absolute terms from 10 million to about 44 million and a percentage of the total population
has increased from 5% to about 14% over this period of time, almost reaching the historic record of
14.8% in 1890.
According to the most recent Pew Research estimates, in 2017, about three-quarters of all immigrants
were in the country legally, with 45% being naturalized citizens and another 32% had permanent or
temporary resident status. About 10 million or 23% of all immigrants are in the country illegally, though
some experts consider this number could be much higher (Radford, 2019).
The main origin country of U.S. immigration, both legal and illegal, is Mexico, which accounted for 25% or
11 million immigrants in the U.S. in 2017. The next three largest sources of immigration include China
(6%), India (6%), and the Philippines (5%). Mexico, South America and the Caribbean together account
for slightly more than 40% of American immigration, followed by 30% of immigrants coming from Asian
countries. Since the recession in 2008, the overall immigration flow from Mexico has decreased but was
compensated by larger numbers of migrants from Caribbean countries, Venezuela, and refugees from the
Middle East.
Though the U.S. in absolute numbers receives the most immigrants in the world with every fifth world
migrant residing in it, by annual per capita immigration there are several countries with higher immigration
rates. While in 2017 new annual immigration represented only 0.37% of the American population, in
Canada this number was equal to 1.12%, in Sweden 1%, in Australia 0.97%, in Germany 0.51%, in the
U.K. 0.42%, and in New Zealand the record 2.05% among all developed countries. Over the last decade,
both Canada and Australia, the countries very close to the U.S. culturally, historically, and politically,
regularly accepted at least twice more migrants in per capita comparison.
In the percentage of immigrants in the total population, the U.S. is also not a world leader today. With
14% of immigrants, the country stands behind Australia (33%), Switzerland (almost 29.6%), Canada
(22%), Austria (19%), Sweden (17.6%), Germany (14.8%), and slightly above United Kingdom (13.5%),
Spain (12.8%), and France (11.1%). Other countries with this parameter higher than in the U.S. are
located all over the world and include Singapore, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Israel, Qatar, Ireland, Estonia, and
Cyprus. This list of countries indicates that large-scale immigration has become a global phenomenon
that is common not only for the majority of Western countries but also almost for all economically
successful nations (MPI, 2020).
Recession in 2007-2009 slowed down the rate of immigration to the U.S. Recent political debates on
immigration further contributed to this downward trend. In 2017, about 1.1 million people obtained visas to
enter the U.S. and thus a legal permanent resident status. In 2019, according to preliminary data, this
number dropped to 600,000 people. The most likely, illegal immigration experiences a similar decline due
to intensified border patrol, deportation, and family separation policies, recently enforced by Immigration
and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
3. CONTRIBUTION OF IMMIGRANTS INTO AMERICAN ECONOMY
There are numerous publications discussing the role of immigrants in the U.S., including their contribution
to the American economy (Zeitz, 2017; Jawetz, 2019; Radford, 2019). Concrete numbers about such
contribution may substantially fluctuate from one study to another, but the majority of them conclude that
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immigrants play an important role in many areas of American society. Though the traditional view of
immigrants, especially in certain parts of the society associate them primarily with low educational
attainment and low-skilled jobs, in the U.S. foreign-born citizens are almost as well represented in many
hi-tech areas and academia as in all low-skilled jobs.
3.1. Role and Impact of High-skilled Immigration
Since World War II, when many scholars fled Europe and joined the American scientific community and
until today, immigrants have been playing a significant role in the American research community,
especially in quantitatively oriented areas. First, let us note that the perception that the majority of
immigrants are poorly educated if not just illiterate is far from reality. Though among those with less than
9th grade education immigrants surpass U.S.-born adults (17% vs. 2.5%), among Americans with
bachelor’s degree or higher these two numbers are very close to each other - 32% for U.S.-born adults
vs. 31% for all immigrants, while among recently arrived immigrants 47% have a bachelor’s degree or
higher. The data indicate that there are very different categories in U.S. immigration, including a big
category of highly educated and highly qualified specialists.
Foreign-born citizens play an even more substantial role in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering,
Mathematics) disciplines of the American academic community. Fig. 2 illustrates the number of foreign-
born individuals in selected Science and Engineering occupations. The share of foreign-born scholars at
bachelor, master, and doctoral levels varies from 23% for master’s degrees to 33% for doctoral degrees;
in other words, every third specialist with doctoral degree in science and engineering is a migrant. In
engineering, this number reaches 56%, while in mathematics and computer sciences it is equal to 55%.
All S&E occupations
Engineering
Computer sciences and mathematics
Physical sciences
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Bachelor's
Master's
Doctorate
Percent share
Fig. 2. Foreign-born individuals in S&E occupations in the United States in 2017 (NSF data)
One of the main sources of American “brain gain” in STEM areas is international students enrolled in the
U.S. universities (NCES, 2019). In 2019 about 1.1 million foreign-born young men and women attended
American universities, making them the main destination for international students (about 25% of the total
number worldwide). In American schools, these students substantially more often than U.S.-born students
choose STEM-oriented programs. Overall, 47% of international students specialize in STEM disciplines.
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In the 2018-19 academic year, the number of international students pursuing Math and Computer Science
degrees (203,000 students) has for the first time surpassed Business programs and has become the
second-largest field after engineering (230,000) (NCES, 2019).
While international students represent about 5.5% of total college enrollment and about half of them are
enrolled in STEM programs, their role in STEM-oriented graduate programs is even higher. In many
engineering fields, international students represent a vast majority overall in graduate programs. For
example, in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences about 80% of all graduate students are
international students; in Statistics, Economics, Chemical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, and in
many other engineering programs their share is more than 50% (NSF, 2018). The role of international
students in the current STEM programs on American campuses is so high, that according to NSF,
“International students allow U.S. universities to offer high-quality academic programs in science and
engineering and to supply the graduate students essential for conducting research and retaining top
faculty” (NFAP, 2017). In leading large research universities, the share of international students in STEM
graduate programs is even higher than the average numbers. International students in graduate
Computer Science programs with at least 30 students represent 88% of their enrollment with the vast
majority of students coming from Asian countries.
International students play an extremely important role not only in keeping enrollment in American schools
but also in contributing to R&D in STEM disciplines. After finishing graduate schools, they often join the
American job market in all fields and roles. Table 1 shows that up to 75% of international Ph.D. recipients
in STEM programs stay in the U.S. after graduation. It is difficult to overestimate their input to the
development of the American high-tech sector. The National Foundation for American policy reports that
more than half of privately held start-ups in Silicon Valley valued at least $1 billion were founded by
people from outside the U.S., and 71% of them employed immigrants in crucial executive roles (Manjoo,
2017). Many of these new American entrepreneurs come directly from the U.S. Computer Science
doctoral programs.
Degree field
2011–13 foreign
doctorate
recipients
5-year
stay rate
(%)
2006–08 foreign
doctorate
recipients
10-year
stay rate
(%)
Total 39,250 71 38,000 72
Biology, agriculture, health 9,250 74 9,400 73
Computer and
mathematics 5,400 78 5,100 75
Physical sciences 6,150 67 6,400 71
Social scientists 4,900 52 4,100 47
Engineering 13,500 75 13,000 77
Table 1. Number of international Ph.D. students that stay in the U.S. after graduation.
Another important area that requires high qualifications and many years of intensive training is a
healthcare system. Despite high prestige and high salaries, there is a lack of medical specialists in
America. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), in 2020 this shortage is
estimated at about 90,000 physicians and it will increase by another 30% by the year 2025. Like in many
other areas, immigrants with medical backgrounds help to mitigate the problem. AAMC estimates that
today more than 25 percent of physicians in the United States are foreign-born. As Dr. Anupam Jena of
Harvard Medical School states, “the American health care system relies very heavily on individuals who
were born in other countries, … and skilled immigration is an important contributor to nearly every
occupation within the broader health care industry in the U.S.” (Rapoport, 2018). The survey conducted
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in 2016 by the U.S. Census Bureau indicated that almost 30 percent of physicians, about 24 percent of
dentists, 16% of registered nurses, and 20 percent of pharmacists in the U.S. were born in other
countries.
Special Report, compiled by the American Immigration Council in 2018, highlighted an even higher role of
foreign-born healthcare workers in American rural communities (AIC Report). These communities are
characterized by low per-capita incomes, an aging population, and poor infrastructure. In addition, these
communities struggle to attract both for-profit medical institutions and individual doctors and deal with
increasing numbers of hospital closures. As a result, according to the AIS report, “there are only 13.1
physicians and surgeons per every 10,000 residents, compared with 31.2 physicians in urban areas”.
Immigrant health-care specialists help to fill this deficiency - in communities with per-capita income below
$15,000 per year 42.5 percent of all doctors are foreign-trained (AIC Report, 2018). With the increasing
shortage of medical specialists in the country, the role of foreign-born specialists, especially in rural areas,
continues to increase.
3.2. Role and Impact of Low-skilled Immigration
Immigrants play an equally important role in many basic brick-and-mortar industries in America, especially
in low-paid and physically challenging jobs that have a low social status. Fig. 3 provides the top ten
detailed occupations by the immigrant share of workers, compiled by Pew Research Center in 2014. The
first in this list is personal appearance workers (63%), followed by graders and sorters of agricultural
products (60%), plasterers and stucco masons (59%), sewing machine operators (55%), and agricultural
workers (52%). Other areas of occupations with a very substantial immigrant presence include
housekeepers (50%) and chauffeurs and taxi drivers (47%).
Misc. personal appearance workers
Graders, sorters of agricultural products
Plasterers and stucco masons
Sewing machine operators
Misc. agricultural workers
Maids and housekeeping cleaners
Tailors, dressmakers, and sewers
Drywall and ceining tile installers, tapers
Taxi drivers and chauffeurs
Misc. media and communication workers
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
12%
28%
36%
23%
30%
24%
11%
31%
7%
5%
51%
32%
23%
32%
21%
26%
39%
17%
40%
40%
Unathorized immigrants Lawful immigrants
Fig. 3. The jobs in which workers are most likely to be immigrants.
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In another more aggregated by industry statistics on immigrants, 25% of those working in construction are
foreign-born workers (Martin, 2016). According to the most recent 2016 American Community Survey by
the National Association of Home Builders' Housing Economics, the number of immigrants in construction
is gradually increasing and it is largely because of “a slow, delayed and reluctant post-recession return of
native-born workers into the construction workforce” (Siniavskaia, 2018). Following the historic trends, the
majority of these workers (53%) come from Mexico, and an additional 32% come from other countries in
the Americas.
There is even a larger share of immigrants in the agricultural sector; overall, 33% of those working in
agriculture are foreign-born. As in the construction business, immigrants, primarily Mexicans, have been
actively involved in the U.S. agricultural sector for many years. As Jessica Kurn says, foreign-born
workers are an essential part of the American food system (Kurn, 2018). Traditionally, agriculture remains
a risky, very labor-intensive, seasonal, and low-paid occupation. It is also dirty and has a low social
status. As a result, according to some estimates, up to 60-80% of all farmworkers are foreign-born with
the majority of them being unauthorized immigrants.
Immigrants play an important role in all sectors of American agriculture from fruits and vegetable
production to meat and dairy industry, and in all steps of its supply chain, including sorting, processing,
packaging, and transportation. In particular, industrial meat processing plants are known for employing in
big numbers foreign-born workers, many of whom are also illegal immigrants. “Industrial meat processing
is a messy, smelly, unsavory business”, says Aaron Gilbreath, and thus 30% of workers at meat
production plants are foreign-born, while the most dangerous sanitation at these plants is done primarily
by the immigrants (Gilbreath, 2018).
Number of Foreign-
born Workers
Share of All Workers,
Foreign-born
Food Sector, Overall 3,806,511 21.60%
Agriculture 546,383 27.60%
Food Processing 500,085 28.70%
Food Wholesale Trade 212,048 24.40%
Grocery Stores and Supermarkets 528,811 16.60%
Restaurants and Food Service 2,019,184 20.50%
Table 2. Immigrant Workers in the U.S. Food Sector
Immigrants represent a substantial share of workers in restaurants and in numerous fast-food chains and
individual businesses, including street food vending (Table 2). According to Pew Research, in these
businesses almost 20% of cooks and 30% of dishwashers are illegal immigrants while foreign-born
workers represent 10% overall of those employed in the restaurant business ( Lemper, 2017).
4. DISCUSSION
Many discussions on immigration in America often start with reminding that this country was founded as a
country of immigrants and that immigrants in the past played an important role in American success-story.
Not putting in doubt these two historic arguments, we are more interested to concentrate on the current
role of immigration in the U.S. not from historical or emotional points of view, but from a pragmatical
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perspective about the role of immigration in today America’s well-being. To our mind, America gets four
main benefits from immigration.
The first benefit of immigration can be the best expressed by reminding that size matters in economics
and geopolitics. China, not economically more advanced Singapore or South Korea or any other highly
developed countries, is in the focus of American foreign policy because of its size. The last fifty years
have been marked by increasing arrangement of regional economic unions of all types and shapes and
on all continents just because business always does better when it has a large customer base. The U.S.
current population of 330 million people is less than in the European Union (about 500 million) and only a
fraction of the Chinese population (1.4 billion). In 2007, the U.S. still had a comparatively high birth rate of
2.1 children per woman that was the highest among developed countries, but after the recession of 2008
it did drop to about 1.7 that is below the population replacement rate. Without immigration, the American
population will start shrinking with clear negative consequences for American economy and American
standing in the world arena.
In today's hi-tech world, it has become clear that the quality and quantity of high-skilled workers are the
two most important ingredients of economic success. In the 21st century, human skills or how it is often
called “human capital” has become one of the most precious resources in the current global knowledge-
driven economy, and all leading world countries compete for the best talent. America has tremendously
benefitted in the past by “brain gain”, being able to attract bright and talented specialists all over the
world. One of the most convincing evidences of the significant role immigrants play in advancing national
science and technology is the scale by which they are represented among American winners of the Nobel
Prize. Thirty-nine percent of American Nobel Prize winners in Chemistry, Medicine, and Physics since
2000 have been immigrants. In 2016, all six American winners of the Nobel Prize in economics and
scientific fields were immigrants to the United States (Anderson, 2019). Immigrants today continue to
make an impressive contribution to all levels and fields of American science, academia, and hi-tech
industries. Many iconic and the most powerful American hi-tech companies, including Amazon, Apple,
Google, Uber, Yahoo, and Tesla have been founded by immigrants or sons of immigrants; Microsoft,
Oracle, and Google as well as many other big American companies have foreign-born CEOs. Many
famous foreign-born artists in Hollywood help to promote American culture and American values
worldwide. Attracting high-skilled immigration into the U.S. is an important tool in advancing the American
economy and American society and it is the second important argument in favor of active immigration
policy.
While very few opponents to immigration in the U.S. question the benefits of getting the best talents,
many are not sure about the gains America gets from its low-skilled immigration. Foreign-born workers
represent a very substantial share of employed in such mass areas of occupation like construction,
agriculture, entry-level food services, hospitality, personal services, janitors, etc. They usually perform the
most dangerous, hard, labor-intensive, and often dirty jobs. Many of these jobs are temporary or
seasonal, and low-paid. Almost all of such jobs have low social status the American-born workers are very
reluctant to fill. Replacing immigrants in these jobs would represent a huge challenge to the society, and
even a substantial increase in reimbursements might not solve the problem. For example, in summer
2020 due to Covid-19 pandemic, all Western countries experienced big unemployment but still needed
immigrant workers to harvest the crops. Eliminating this category of low-skilled immigrants from the
American economy would have a huge negative ramification for its overall well-being. As a result, a big
contribution of this category of foreign-born workers is the third argument in favor of the immigration.
Finally, millions of immigrants to the U.S. bring a new fresh entrepreneurial spirit to the country. Tom
Jawetz cited California representative Zoe Lofgren, who had said that immigrants are people “who had
enough get-up-and-go to get up and go spirit” (Jawetz, 2019). In his report to Congress, Jawetz
emphasized that while immigrants made up about 14% of the total population, they made up almost 30%
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of all new businesses, and thus twice more often become entrepreneurs than native-born American
immigrants bring new blood and ingenuity to all areas of American economy and American society. In
Silicon Valley, while immigrants represent 38% of the total population, their share of employed residents is
47% and 65% of employed in computer and mathematics disciplines. (SVL, 2018). The Report conducted
by J. David Brown et al. (Brown et al., 2019) underlines a disproportionate contribution of immigrants to
many areas of innovation with foreign-born specialists more likely to achieve high citation indices, receive
patents and start a new high-tech business.
On another spectrum of jobs, foreign-born workers display the same high level of entrepreneurship.
According to Jawetz, immigrants own 20% of small businesses, including 60% of all gas stations, 58% of
dry cleaners, 53% of small grocery stores, 45% of nail salons, and 38% of all restaurants. They contribute
to large American metropolitan areas, where their share of business ownership is above 30% in New
York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Miami, and they equally contribute to many rural areas being in
20% of them the only source of demographic growth. What is remarkable is that children of foreign-born
citizens on average are more successful than children of native-born Americans with a similar background
and this is true for both immigrants from Asia and Latin America (Dye, 2012).
Despite all these reasons, immigration into the U.S. as well as in many other western countries causes
strong political debates. Opponents of immigration use a variety of arguments putting in doubt the overall
positive outcome from immigration. Two main arguments include claims that immigrants contribute to
increasing crime rate in America and that they cost too much to American taxpayers. There are many
studies rebuffing both claims, but a detailed analysis of them is beyond the scope of this paper. Still how
to make immigration into America more effective and less controversial is quite a legitimate question.
According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, in 2017, out of the total number of 1.13 million
immigrants who obtained a lawful permanent resident status, about 750,000 permits were issued to close
relatives and family members, about 145,000 to refugees, 95,000 for diversity purpose, and only 138,000
for the employment. In other words, only about 10% of legal immigrants were allowed to come to the U.S.
based on their qualifications and requests from American companies. In many other Western countries
with high immigration, the share of merit-based immigration is much higher.
Canada and Australia practice likely the most advanced merit-based immigration policies, aimed at
speedy approval of skilled workers’ applications. Their point-based system takes into consideration
education level, working experience, English language skills, age, and whether there is high demand in
these two countries for professional skills of potential immigrants. To make their countries more attractive
to newcomers, both countries recently simplified application procedures even more, and in the case of
Canada shortened the approval period to just two weeks. Germany and some other European countries
also follow this trend easing immigration procedures for highly qualified specialists. In this increasing race
for getting the best talents, the active immigration policies of other countries might have managerial
implications for America - the U.S. could and should make its immigration policy more merit oriented and
less bureaucratic for those who can contribute to the well-being of America the most.
5. CONCLUSION
Neither great expansion of the original thirteen state union, nor extension to the west, nor becoming the
most dynamic economy in the 19th century, nor becoming the leading superpower in the 20th century
would be possible without a continuous and substantial inflow of immigrants to America. Contribution of
foreign-born citizens played a critical role in many areas of American economy and American society.
Accumulation of their energy, ingenuity, creativity, and spirit of innovation remains vital for the continuous
progress of the country in the 21st century.
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While there are many pieces of evidence of the overall positive impact new Americans make, immigration
also creates problems and social conflicts. Successful immigration policy should take into consideration
many parameters: level of immigration, the success of naturalization and assimilation of newcomers,
balancing interests of different social and professional groups in America. Discussions on how to regulate
immigration and how to make it more effective from the American well-being point of view should
continue. One of the ways to achieve this goal is to adjust the U.S. immigration policy and procedures to
lure the most qualified specialists from abroad.
In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic puts a temporary halt to almost any type of immigration worldwide, but it
will unlikely change the two most fundamental causes of immigration that will remain the same in the
foreseeable future – all developed countries struggle with the problem of aging population and strive to
attract the most skilled workers to maintain their technological and economic progress.
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Dr. Alexander Mechitov and Dr. Helen Moshkovich are professors in Stephens College of Business at
the University of Montevallo.
Journal of Academy of Business and Economics, 2020, Issue 3, 67-76