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Study: Immigrants and their kids founded 45% of U.S. Fortune 500 companies

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Re: Study: Immigrants and their kids founded 45% of U.S. Fortune 500 companies

#41

Post by haasteagle »

harryh wrote: post #31

The way they handle companies with > 1 founder is a bit weird. If there is at least one immigrant / 1st gen American it's counted in the "founded by" category. And then the 45% is taken by looking at things just at the company level. I think it would tell a clearer picture to count the total number of founders and count the percentage of people who were immigrants / 1st gen americans. Then, to give context, you would…

Agreed. Makes it seem as if a 1st/2nd gen immigrant was the sole founder of every company listed.

Re: Study: Immigrants and their kids founded 45% of U.S. Fortune 500 companies

#42

Post by lukaa »

I think problem is not in immigration but in type of immigration.So it would be nice not to stop by just say immigrants founded companies.It should be examined how many of that immigrants are highly educated and have parents like that and how many just enter USA in uncotrolled immigration.

Re: Study: Immigrants and their kids founded 45% of U.S. Fortune 500 companies

#44

Post by weberc2 »

pjc50 wrote: post #18
metalchianti wrote: post #8

Definitely some selection bias. Many wealthy people in the US are immigrants. Also, many wealthy people probably choose to immigrate to the US to start their business because of lower barriers to entry. EDIT: Also, if this [1] is correct, 13.7% of people in the US are immigrants. So how many people are immigrants OR first-gen? And since ANY of the founders can be immigrants/first-gen, more founders means higher likel…

Not all these people were wealthy before they arrived; Andy Grove of Intel was a Hungarian refugee, for example.

Is this meant to be a rebuttal? It's entirely compatible with the parent comment...

Re: Study: Immigrants and their kids founded 45% of U.S. Fortune 500 companies

#45

Post by sudosteph »

harryh wrote: post #31

The way they handle companies with > 1 founder is a bit weird. If there is at least one immigrant / 1st gen American it's counted in the "founded by" category. And then the 45% is taken by looking at things just at the company level. I think it would tell a clearer picture to count the total number of founders and count the percentage of people who were immigrants / 1st gen americans. Then, to give context, you would…

Agreed. It makes me think they might have used that selection criteria specifically in order to provide an out-sized visualization about the impact of immigration on the founding of US companies. Seeing the actual numbers on the the founder-level would be more informative and probably also let me shed my doubts about whether or not those who created the study were doing it a biased manner.

I also think it's weird that Amazon was counted as "child of an immigrant". He was adopted as a child by his immigrant step-father after his mother's marriage - but he definitely would have been in America regardless of immigration policy...

Re: Study: Immigrants and their kids founded 45% of U.S. Fortune 500 companies

#47

Post by ilikehurdles »

pjc50 wrote: post #18
metalchianti wrote: post #8

Definitely some selection bias. Many wealthy people in the US are immigrants. Also, many wealthy people probably choose to immigrate to the US to start their business because of lower barriers to entry. EDIT: Also, if this [1] is correct, 13.7% of people in the US are immigrants. So how many people are immigrants OR first-gen? And since ANY of the founders can be immigrants/first-gen, more founders means higher likel…

Not all these people were wealthy before they arrived; Andy Grove of Intel was a Hungarian refugee, for example.

I have a hypothesis related to this. I believe that surviving being a child refugee in America is something that really brings out the grit in a person. Seeing the things your family goes through to provide a normal life for you in a strange and new place, overcoming ethnic biases, language barriers, and life on government assistance really brings out the attitudes of drive and perseverance toward reaching one's goals.

I'd be curious to see how the likeliness of refugees to reach higher income brackets over their lives compares to native-born Americans.

Re: Study: Immigrants and their kids founded 45% of U.S. Fortune 500 companies

#48

Post by Kalium »

harryh wrote: post #31

The way they handle companies with > 1 founder is a bit weird. If there is at least one immigrant / 1st gen American it's counted in the "founded by" category. And then the 45% is taken by looking at things just at the company level. I think it would tell a clearer picture to count the total number of founders and count the percentage of people who were immigrants / 1st gen americans. Then, to give context, you would…

> The way they handle companies with > 1 founder is a bit weird. If there is at least one immigrant / 1st gen American it's counted in the "founded by" category. And then the 45% is taken by looking at things just at the company level.

Ah! I saw the 45% number and immediately wondered if this particular statistical slight of hand was being used. Thank you.

Re: Study: Immigrants and their kids founded 45% of U.S. Fortune 500 companies

#49

Post by gingabriska »

256 wrote: post #38
gingabriska wrote: post #26

But it isn't a proof that if the immigrants did not found these companies, someone local wouldn't have found them either. Maybe it had taken some more time but, locals would have ended up setting up these either way. A big maybe. China is an example that screams, immigrants do not matter much for economic success.

There are a lot of other differences between America and China that make this a terrible comparison.

Japan, Korea, Germany are also in line and also India (with successful space program without immigrants). There are many countries which are successful without immigrants, some of them are even democracies.

Re: Study: Immigrants and their kids founded 45% of U.S. Fortune 500 companies

#50

Post by sudosteph »

konopoly wrote: post #39

Its strange to see Amazon on the list. Bezos was born to American parents but after they divorced his mother remarried to a Cuban immigrant. I dont think that makes him the son of immigrants.

Especially not when the study itself is clearly intended to be used as evidence to support a particular position on immigration policy. Makes it seem a bit cherry-picked.
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