Immigration restrictions could slow St. Louis’ economic growth

By St. Louis Magazine

With Missouri in demographic winter, immigrants have been a bright spot—not just in population growth, but in entrepreneurship.

Julieta Imperiale arrived in St. Louis just one month ago to launch the St. Louis operations of her company, NanoJump Bio. Her new location, made possible by an Arch Grant, allows her to bring innovation and knowledge from her home country, Argentina, to help revolutionize the DNA analysis sector. 

Imperiale isn’t alone in her entrepreneurial efforts. St. Louis has more than 11,000 immigrant entrepreneurs, according to the St. Louis Mosaic Project, ones who help grow the local economy and create jobs for immigrants and native-born alike.   The Yale Budget Lab recently completed a study to measure what the effects of recent restrictions on immigration will have on business productivity in the United States. They found that even temporary restrictions on immigration can have long-lasting impacts on business formation.

Read more here.