Immigration presents a lot difficulties for national statistical offices and the production of meaningful data because it typically involves the movement of people into or out of their jurisdictional boundaries.  Today we released a report based on a survey performed by Duke University looking at immigrants to the United States who had since returned to their home countries, with a particular focus on China and India.  The large sample of these immigrants and unique method of using LinkedIn are sure to produce copycat techniques moving forward.  

Another study we released a couple of weeks ago had a surprisingly important component on immigrants - an entrepreneurial impact assessment of the Massachussetts Institute of Technology (MIT).  Here, non-native students to MIT were found to have produced large economic returns for Massachussetts and the world in the companies which they went on to found.  It was clear that the import of talent in the case of MIT had been an economic development boom for the state and the nation.  

Lastly, the OECD recently produced what I thought was a really smart document, summarizing what we know about the global competition for talent.  It's worth checking out if you have an interest in this area.