Bloomberg’s Noah Smith observes:
“Unlike many of the Latin American immigrants who arrived in previous decades, immigrants from Asia tend to be highly educated. This is a result of the U.S.’s selective immigration policy -- because there is no land border with Asia, the U.S. can be very selective about who it lets in from that continent. Asian countries, especially China and India, also tend to have very large populations, and have education systems that do a good job of identifying talent. Of course, it’s worth noting that the U.S. gets skilled immigrants from all over the world, and they all tend to thrive. But China and India each have about four times the U.S.’s population -- America merely sips from the torrent of skilled workers produced by those supergiant countries.”
Related:
Canada’s Ruthlessly Smart Immigration Policy by JONATHAN TEPPERMAN