[1] In April 2013, Nowrasteh wrote a blog post critical of a 2007 study conducted by Robert Rector and published by The Heritage Foundation that attempted to estimate the long-term fiscal impact of various immigration policies.

It delayed the release of Heritage's updated study and placed it under severe scrutiny by academics and other policy analysts – substantially diminishing its influence.

"[11] He notes that, "Terrorism is a hazard to human life and material prosperity that should be addressed in a sensible manner whereby the benefits of actions to contain it outweigh the costs.

... [T]he chance of an American perishing in a terrorist attack on U.S. soil that was committed by a foreigner over the 41-year period studied here is 1 in 3.6 million per year.

Any government response to terrorism must take account of the wide range of hazards posed by foreign-born terrorists who entered under various visa categories."

Nowrasteh's academic research largely focuses on how immigrants could affect the economic institutions in destination countries.

[16] In 2019, Nowrasteh published another study in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization which concluded that there was "no relationship between immigration and terrorism, whether measured by the number of attacks or victims, in destination countries...

[18][19] The second was co-authored with Professor Pete Leeson of George Mason University and is about the economics of ransom bonds, a peculiar financial instrument used in piracy during the Napoleonic Wars.

The study found that the influx of Kuwaiti-Palestinian (Palestinians who had worked and lived in Kuwait for decades) refugees into Jordan from during the Gulf War had long-lasting positive effects on Jordanian economic institutions.