One of the highlights in any parent’s life surely is attending a son’s or daughter’s college graduation. I just had that privilege on May 19, when my son graduated from the engineering school at the University of Pennsylvania.
What made the day especially rewarding, however, was the commencement address by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, one of America’s best mayors – ever. Ordinarily, I bet most students and their parents pay little attention to the commencement speaker. Bloomberg’s commencement speech, now on YouTube, was not an ordinary event, at least to me, and deserves a wider audience.
Bloomberg outlined four lessons from his political life that he suggested the Penn graduates apply to politicians who ask for their votes in the future. The last lesson – that immigrants have been and will continue to be, if we let them, vital sources of innovation – is the one that struck me as particularly noteworthy.
Partly, I guess, that is because I work at the Kauffman Foundation and Kauffman has funded studies of immigrants and the extent to which they contribute to America’s entrepreneurial success. And also partly because, together with our President Carl Schramm, I have written that the nation would be far better off if we opened our doors more widely to high-skilled immigrants, in particular – or those who come here seeking to gain those skills (See Chapter 8 of Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism). We are shooting ourselves in the foot by not welcoming these talented individuals, not just for the temporary periods allowed under the limited numbers of H-1B visas, but more permanently.
I know the risks that politicians apparently fear in welcoming any form of immigration, even though virtually all of the discontent I have seen on this subject is aimed at lower-skilled immigrants. But in my talks with people around the country, I do not detect much opposition to letting more foreign students come here to study to be doctors, scientists, other high skilled professionals, and yes entrepreneurs – and then to stay on to realize those dreams. Perhaps policy making eventually will reflect this sentiment as well.
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