[tazu]

> A Harvard study tried to measure this by looking at what happened to researchers when a colleague died. The loss of an immigrant brainbox reduced co-workers’ productivity (measured in patents) by nearly twice as much as the loss of a native. From this, the study estimated that immigrants in America, though only 14% of the population, are responsible for a colossal 36% of innovation.

1) What the hell is a brainbox?

2) What does the death of a colleague have to do with innovation?

3) Can you really measure innovation with "# of patents"? By that measure, Panasonic is the most innovative company in the world.

[dannyobrien]

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/brainbox British slang for "clever person" (The Economist is based in the UK).

[trollbridge]

I have generally thought of immigrants as "people", not "brainboxes".

Losing a coworker, particularly at a small company, is also quite traumatic. After losing a key member of a team, perhaps the survivors find they have other priorities in life than trying to file for lots of patents. This seems like a rather obvious confounding factor.

[tazu]

> After losing a key member of a team, perhaps the survivors find they have other priorities in life than trying to file for lots of patents. This seems like a rather obvious confounding factor.

Exactly, seems pretty disingenuous to measure grieving people's productivity and compare based on whether they're grieving the death of a native or immigrant.

[trollbridge]

If I lost my cofounder (who isn't a migrant) I would be devastated and probably wouldn't produce much of anything for a year or two.

If they were from another country and I didn't even have any of my cofounder's family around, just a big gaping hole where they used to be... I'd probably quit and go find a job somewhere else so I could stop thinking about it.

Getting a patent application in would be the very last thing on my mind.

[jamesjamesdupre]

Sure, but their being foreign changing behavior a lot more? It's possible but its a better finding than Freud ever had.

[princevegeta89]

1) Net total of everything brought/created by his brain for that organization?

2) His death also meant the death of his creativity in his team. It also means that no one else could replicate it at that level? [That they couldn't find a replacement for him quick enough]

3) By how well it is received by an organization and real world customers.

Would you say that Steve Jobs brought life into an otherwise dull company called Apple? Not saying that immigrants are like him, but just throwing some light on your questions.

[tazu]

> 3) By how well it is received by an organization and real world customers.

One patent can be more "innovative" than 10,000 patents. For example, 10,000 patents on horse carriage designs/parts compared to one patent for a Model T car.

[wslh]

Am I the only one thinking that "Harvard studies" are passé? On a personal note Harvard business related bibliography ended in my bookshelf with management classics and many HBRs from the early 2000s.

[seneca]

Not at all. Harvard's name on something created in the last decade damages its credibility.