David M. Hart (School of Public Policy, George Mason University) Zoltan J. Acs (School of Public Policy, George Mason University and Max Planck Institute of Economics, Jena) Spencer Tracy (Corporate Research Board)
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In this study, we quantify the role of foreign-born founders in high-tech entrepreneurship in a nationally representative sample of rapidly growing "high-impact" companies. This class of companies drives job creation and aggregate growth in the U.S. We find that, while most previous studies have overstated this role, it is nonetheless very important. For instance, about 16% of the companies in our sample had at least one foreign-born person among their founding teams, and these high-tech companies display better performance in some respects than high-tech companies in our sample whose founders were all native-born. We also provide a profile of high-tech immigrant entrepreneurs. The vast majority are strongly rooted in the U.S., highlighting the need to build a coherent pathway to permanent status for highly-skilled immigrants.
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Paper provided by Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Max-Planck-Institute of Economics, Thueringer Universitaets- und Landesbibliothek in its series Jena Economic Research Papers in Economics with number
2009-061.
Find related papers by JEL classification: L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship O3 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Technological Change F2 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business
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