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Whether from a high birth rate or immigration, a rising population deflates the average standard of living. A decline in population causes the average standard to rise.The same could be said of the US, but immigration, as much as the bigots hate it, is keeping us afloat demographically.
A Farewell to Alms, by Gregory Clark has a diagram on page 41. It shows that real wages for building and farm laborers in England spiked in the fifteenth century, and declined after than.
The reason was not a strong labor movement, or a rise in labor productivity. The reason was Bubonic Plague, which killed nearly half the population of Europe. When fewer people were competing for jobs, wages went up. When fewer people were competing for stuff to buy, prices declined.
Fewer people mean that there is more of everything good to go around.
In the United States the Immigration Reform Act of 1965 raised immigration to the United States. Consequently it has been a major reason for the growing income gap. Other reasons are Republican economic changes and the fact that computer technology increases the relationship between intelligence and income.