1) Bibliographic data
Light, Ivan; Min Zhou and Rebecca Kim (2002) “Transnationalism and American Exports in an English-Speaking World,” International Migration Review, V. 36-3, Fall:702-25.

2) Question(s) addressed by the author and working arguments
The discrepancy between imports and exports arises because of the dominance of English as a world business language. Schiller, Basch and Blanc-Szanton define transnationalism as “ a process by which immigrants build social fields that link together their country of origin and their country of settlement.”
Transmigrants are residents in at least two societies between which the shuttle frequently enough to remain active participants in both, but full participants in neither.
Before globalization, immigrants just assimilated to host societies; in the US, assimilation meant English monolingualism within three generations. Assimilation was not entirely free choice.
Immigrant biculturalism increases trade net immigrant entrepreneurship because bicultural immigrants can obtain trade-promoting management jobs in firms owned by native born Americans. Monolingual native speakers of English could be Transmigrants to the extend that English-speaking countries have significantly different cultures. Language fluency is a cultural issue. Immigrants’ fluency in English increased American export to sending countries, but immigrants’ fluency in English did not increase American imports from sending countries.
Transnationalism only promoted exports when the Transmigrants were fluent in English and a foreign language. Immigrants fluent in English enjoyed privileged access to foreign markets only when those markets were in non-English speaking countries.
In the era of globalization, there exists a Spanish diaspora, populated with Spanish transnationals, but that Spanish diaspora does not produce so large an increase in exports as does the Chinese diaspora, equally transnational but also middleman in cultural heritage.

3) Conceptual references to transnational-transnationalism
Transnationalism, transmigrants and transnational.

4) Conclusions or Final Remarks
Transmigrants have advantages in international trade, imports as well as exports, but not aggregate data were available. Since transmigrant entrepreneurship increases aggregate exports, but not aggregate imports, we conclude that the failure of immigration to increase American imports probably arises from the transparency of the American culture to foreign business interests. Immigration’s upon exports are both general and specific. Transmigrant entrepreneurship stimulated American exports.