Interesting study, bafanguy. wading thru some of it now. One minor detail which jumped out at me, in section 2 the author reviews other previous related studies. In the discussion of a MITRE report he notes that the MITRE report cites 8000 pilots who were issued an ATP in the US and are now working abroad as a potential source of pilots for US airlines. The RAND paper dismisses this explaining that they are foreign pilots who came to the US for flight training and thus not potential pilots for US airlines.
I think that they are mistaken here. I don't know what the criteria was in the MITRE report, but I do know the there are a lot of US citizens flying for airlines in Asia and the Mideast. Not sure hoe any, but I don't think that their numbers are inconsequential. I would imagine that many of them could be persuaded back to the US with decent pay and conditions.