Immigration and talent

This is Joseph

This says so much in so little space:

In 2017, 608,000 students went abroad and 480,900 returned. China is proud of a return rate of 79 per cent; in 1987, the return rate was about 5 per cent, and in 2007 only 30.6 per cent.

Some of this is undoubtedly driven by better conditions in China.  But there is clearly a change in appeal for staying in the United States, as you do not see these kinds of massive shifts without something quite important changing. 

At the very least, it undermines the US as a magnet for international talent.  In some ways this might be good, by creating other clusters of talent across the globe and diversifying the intellectual frontier.  But it does suggest that it is timely to consider why this change has been quite so dramatic and whether it might be below the optimal rate for driving American innovation.