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Immigrant Entrepreneurs and Innovation in the US High-Tech Sector

In: The Roles of Immigrants and Foreign Students in US Science, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship

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  • J. David Brown
  • John S. Earle
  • Mee Jung Kim
  • Kyung Min Lee

Abstract

We estimate differences in innovation behavior between foreign versus U.S.-born entrepreneurs in high-tech industries. Our data come from the Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs, a random sample of firms with detailed information on owner characteristics and innovation activities. We find uniformly higher rates of innovation in immigrant-owned firms for 15 of 16 different innovation measures; the only exception is for copyright/trademark. The immigrant advantage holds for older firms as well as for recent start-ups and for every level of the entrepreneur's education. The size of the estimated immigrant-native differences in product and process innovation activities rises with detailed controls for demographic and human capital characteristics but falls for R&D and patenting. Controlling for finance, motivations, and industry reduces all coefficients, but for most measures and specifications immigrants are estimated to have a sizable advantage in innovation.
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Suggested Citation

  • J. David Brown & John S. Earle & Mee Jung Kim & Kyung Min Lee, 2019. "Immigrant Entrepreneurs and Innovation in the US High-Tech Sector," NBER Chapters, in: The Roles of Immigrants and Foreign Students in US Science, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship, pages 149-171, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberch:14103
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    Cited by:

    1. Vernon, Victoria & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 2019. "Walls and Fences: A Journey Through History and Economics," GLO Discussion Paper Series 330, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    2. Crown, Daniel & Faggian, Alessandra & Corcoran, Jonathan, 2020. "Foreign-Born graduates and innovation: Evidence from an Australian skilled visa program✰,✰✰,★,★★," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(9).
    3. Matthias Niggli, 2023. "‘Moving On’—investigating inventors’ ethnic origins using supervised learning," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 23(4), pages 921-947.
    4. Gouranga Gopal Das & Sugata Marjit, 2018. "Skill, Innovation and Wage Inequality: Can Immigrants be the Trump Card?," CESifo Working Paper Series 7082, CESifo.
    5. Mee Jung Kim & Kyung Min Lee & J. David Brown & John S. Earle, 2021. "Black Entrepreneurs, Job Creation, and Financial Constraints," Working Papers 21-11, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    6. Green, David A. & Liu, Huju & Ostrovsky, Yuri & Picot, Garnett, 2023. "Are immigrants particularly entrepreneurial? Policy lessons from a selective immigration system," CLEF Working Paper Series 61, Canadian Labour Economics Forum (CLEF), University of Waterloo.
    7. Matthias Niggli, 2023. "‘Moving On’—investigating inventors’ ethnic origins using supervised learning," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 23(4), pages 921-947.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • F61 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - Microeconomic Impacts
    • F66 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - Labor
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J6 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
    • O3 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives

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