Immigration and Business Growth

Research has shown a strong linkage between business innovation, startups and immigration. This should be a key convergence of topics in our current political conversation.

A very thoughtful piece of research conducted by Jennifer Hunt for the National Bureau of Economic research in Cambridge, MA, suggests immigrants "who first entered on a student/trainee visa or a temporary work visa have a large advantage over natives in wages, patenting, commercializing or licensing patents, and publishing". http://www.nber.org/papers/w14920.pdf?new_window=1

As job growth in the US continues to stagnate, perhaps we should look to the dynamic of immigrant business growth influences, particularly related to new business startups, as we continue this critical political conversation.