lots of immigrants from throughout the austro-hungarian empire, including sigmund freud, who was an immigrant, and they came together and they brought fresh ideas, and they shook up the status quo. it was a demographic earthquake that changed vienna and made it, at the time, the greatest city in the world. >> reporter: much as america, because of our openness to fresh ideas and people, has been called the greatest country. but can we afford to stay so open in an increasingly menacing, terror-mad world? development expert hausmann responded with data. >> in the u.s., 25% of employers are foreign born, in silicon valley, over 50% of startups created by people who were born abroad. >> reporter: as we left harvard's kennedy school of government, where venezuelan hausmann and so many other immigrants teach, i had one last question: how bad would it be for the economy if america became less open? >> it definitely is going to cost. we should remember that steve jobs parents were syrian. and there are plenty of syrians we're not letting in. >> reporter: well, only the dad was from syria. still, some