IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/vfsc15/113205.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

International Knowledge Spillovers: The Benefits from Employing Immigrants

Author

Listed:
  • Hiller, Sanne
  • Bitzer, Jürgen
  • Gören, Erkan

Abstract

This paper explores the role of immigrant employees for a firm's capability to absorb international knowledge. Using matched employer-employee data from Denmark for the years 1999 to 2009, we are able to show that non-Danish employees from technological advanced countries contribute significantly to firm's economic output through their ability to access international knowledge. The empirical results suggest that the immigrants' impact increases if they come from technological advanced countries, have a high educational level, and are employed in high-skilled positions. However, the latter does not hold for immigrant managers.

Suggested Citation

  • Hiller, Sanne & Bitzer, Jürgen & Gören, Erkan, 2015. "International Knowledge Spillovers: The Benefits from Employing Immigrants," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 113205, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:vfsc15:113205
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/113205/1/VfS_2015_pid_1.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rachel Griffith & Stephen Redding & John Van Reenen, 2004. "Mapping the Two Faces of R&D: Productivity Growth in a Panel of OECD Industries," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(4), pages 883-895, November.
    2. Pierpaolo Parrotta & Dario Pozzoli & Mariola Pytlikova, 2014. "The nexus between labor diversity and firm’s innovation," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 27(2), pages 303-364, April.
    3. Mr. David T. Coe & Mr. Willy A Hoffmaister, 1999. "Are There International R&D Spillovers Among Randomly Matched Trade Partners? A Response to Keller," IMF Working Papers 1999/018, International Monetary Fund.
    4. Joachim Wagner, 2016. "Exports and Productivity: A Survey of the Evidence from Firm Level Data," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Microeconometrics of International Trade, chapter 1, pages 3-41, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    5. Wolfgang Keller, 2002. "Geographic Localization of International Technology Diffusion," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(1), pages 120-142, March.
    6. Keller, Wolfgang, 1998. "Are international R&D spillovers trade-related?: Analyzing spillovers among randomly matched trade partners," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(8), pages 1469-1481, September.
    7. Griliches, Zvi & Hausman, Jerry A., 1986. "Errors in variables in panel data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 93-118, February.
    8. Wolfgang Keller, 2004. "International Technology Diffusion," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 42(3), pages 752-782, September.
    9. Markusen, James R. & Trofimenko, Natalia, 2009. "Teaching locals new tricks: Foreign experts as a channel of knowledge transfers," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 120-131, January.
    10. Dilling-Hansen, Mogens & Madsen, Erik Strojer & Smith, Valdemar, 2003. "Efficiency, R&D and ownership - some empirical evidence," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(1), pages 85-94, January.
    11. Andrea Fracasso & Giuseppe Vittucci Marzetti, 2014. "International R&D Spillovers, Absorptive Capacity and Relative Backwardness: A Panel Smooth Transition Regression Model," International Economic Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(1), pages 137-160, March.
    12. Jennifer P. Poole, 2013. "Knowledge Transfers from Multinational to Domestic Firms: Evidence from Worker Mobility," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(2), pages 393-406, May.
    13. Nikolaj Malchow‐Møller & Jakob Roland Munch & Jan Rose Skaksen, 2019. "Do Foreign Experts Increase the Productivity of Domestic Firms?," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 121(2), pages 517-546, April.
    14. Charles R. Hulten & Edwin R. Dean & Michael J. Harper, 2001. "New Developments in Productivity Analysis," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number hult01-1, March.
    15. Ang, James B. & Madsen, Jakob B. & Rabiul Islam, Md., 2011. "The effects of human capital composition on technological convergence," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 465-476, September.
    16. Bernard, Andrew B. & Bradford Jensen, J., 1999. "Exceptional exporter performance: cause, effect, or both?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 1-25, February.
    17. Cohen, Wesley M & Levinthal, Daniel A, 1989. "Innovation and Learning: The Two Faces of R&D," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 99(397), pages 569-596, September.
    18. Agrawal, Ajay & Kapur, Devesh & McHale, John, 2008. "How do spatial and social proximity influence knowledge flows? Evidence from patent data," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 258-269, September.
    19. Ernst R. Berndt & Jack E. Triplett, 1991. "Fifty Years of Economic Measurement: The Jubilee of the Conference on Research in Income and Wealth," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number bern91-1, March.
    20. Ingo Eduard Isphording & Sebastian Otten, 2013. "The Costs of Babylon—Linguistic Distance in Applied Economics," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(2), pages 354-369, May.
    21. Hulten, Charles R., 1986. "Productivity change, capacity utilization, and the sources of efficiency growth," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1-2), pages 31-50.
    22. Giovanni Peri & Francisco Requena‐Silvente, 2010. "The trade creation effect of immigrants: evidence from the remarkable case of Spain," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(4), pages 1433-1459, November.
    23. Ernst R. Berndt & Jack E. Triplett, 1991. "Introduction to "Fifty Years of Economic Measurement: The Jubilee of the Conference on Research in Income and Wealth"," NBER Chapters, in: Fifty Years of Economic Measurement: The Jubilee of the Conference on Research in Income and Wealth, pages 1-2, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    24. Andreas Poldahl, 2012. "The Two Faces of R&D: Does Firm Absorptive Capacity Matter?," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 12(2), pages 221-237, June.
    25. Mancusi, Maria Luisa, 2008. "International spillovers and absorptive capacity: A cross-country cross-sector analysis based on patents and citations," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 155-165, December.
    26. Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), 2010. "Handbook of the Economics of Innovation," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1.
    27. Valdemar Smith & Mogens Dilling-Hansen & Tor Eriksson & Erik Strøjer Madsen, 2004. "R&D and productivity in Danish firms: some empirical evidence," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(16), pages 1797-1806.
    28. repec:zbw:rwirep:0337 is not listed on IDEAS
    29. Berndt, Ernst R. & Fuss, Melvyn A., 1986. "Productivity measurement with adjustments for variations in capacity utilization and other forms of temporary equilibrium," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1-2), pages 7-29.
    30. Chantal Nielsen, 2011. "Immigrant over-education: evidence from Denmark," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 24(2), pages 499-520, April.
    31. Andrey Stoyanov & Nikolay Zubanov, 2012. "Productivity Spillovers across Firms through Worker Mobility," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(2), pages 168-198, April.
    32. Richard Kneller & Philip Andrew Stevens, 2006. "Frontier Technology and Absorptive Capacity: Evidence from OECD Manufacturing Industries," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 68(1), pages 1-21, February.
    33. Parrotta, Pierpaolo & Pozzoli, Dario & Pytlikova, Mariola, 2014. "Labor diversity and firm productivity," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 144-179.
    34. Anne Kaag Andersen, 2002. "Are Commuting Areas Relevant for the Delimitation of Administrative Regions in Denmark?," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(8), pages 833-844.
    35. Arturs Kalnins & Wilbur Chung, 2006. "Social Capital, Geography, and Survival: Gujarati Immigrant Entrepreneurs in the U.S. Lodging Industry," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(2), pages 233-247, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Magnus Lodefalk, 2016. "Temporary expats for exports: micro-level evidence," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 152(4), pages 733-772, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jürgen Bitzer & Erkan Gören & Sanne Hiller, 2015. "Absorption of Foreign Knowledge: Firms’ Benefits of Employing Immigrants," Working Papers V-386-15, University of Oldenburg, Department of Economics, revised Oct 2015.
    2. Gong, Guan & Keller, Wolfgang, 2003. "Convergence and polarization in global income levels: a review of recent results on the role of international technology diffusion," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 1055-1079, June.
    3. Neil Foster-McGregor, 2012. "Innovation and Technology Transfer across Countries," wiiw Research Reports 380, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    4. Keller, Wolfgang, 2010. "International Trade, Foreign Direct Investment, and Technology Spillovers," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 793-829, Elsevier.
    5. Jan Van Hove, 2008. "The Impact of R&D Spillovers on Export Value: Does the Transmission Channel matter?," Working Papers 2008.3, International Network for Economic Research - INFER.
    6. Muhammad Ali & Uwe Cantner & Ipsita Roy, 2017. "Knowledge Spillovers Through FDI and Trade: The Moderating Role of Quality-Adjusted Human Capital," Economic Complexity and Evolution, in: Andreas Pyka & Uwe Cantner (ed.), Foundations of Economic Change, pages 357-391, Springer.
    7. Dasgupta, Kunal, 2012. "Learning and knowledge diffusion in a global economy," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 323-336.
    8. Brita Bye & Taran Faehn, 2021. "The Role of Human Capital in Structural Change and Growth in an Open Economy: Innovative and Absorptive Capacity Effects," CESifo Working Paper Series 8857, CESifo.
    9. Jorge Crespo & Carmela Martin & Francisco Javier Velázquez, 2002. "International technology diffusion through imports and its impact on economic growth," European Economy Group Working Papers 12, European Economy Group.
    10. Bretschger, Lucas & Lechthaler, Filippo & Rausch, Sebastian & Zhang, Lin, 2017. "Knowledge diffusion, endogenous growth, and the costs of global climate policy," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 47-72.
    11. Montobbio, Fabio & Sterzi, Valerio, 2013. "The Globalization of Technology in Emerging Markets: A Gravity Model on the Determinants of International Patent Collaborations," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 281-299.
    12. Jaan Masso & Kärt Rõigas & Priit Vahter, 2015. "Foreign market experience, learning by hiring and firm export performance," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 151(4), pages 659-686, November.
    13. Henry, Michael & Kneller, Richard & Milner, Chris, 2009. "Trade, technology transfer and national efficiency in developing countries," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 237-254, February.
    14. Franco, Chiara & Montresor, Sandro & Vittucci Marzetti, Giuseppe, 2011. "On indirect trade-related R&D spillovers: The "Average Propagation Length" of foreign R&D," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 227-237, September.
    15. Nathan, Max, 2013. "The Wider Economic Impacts of High-Skilled Migrants: A Survey of the Literature," IZA Discussion Papers 7653, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Schiffbauer, Marc, 2006. "Theoretical and methodological study on the role of public policies in fostering innovation and growth," Papers DYNREG04, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    17. Edwin Goni & William F. Maloney, 2014. "Why don’t Poor Countries do R&D?," Documentos CEDE 11947, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    18. Magnus Lodefalk, 2016. "Temporary expats for exports: micro-level evidence," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 152(4), pages 733-772, November.
    19. Cameron, Gavin & Proudman, James & Redding, Stephen, 2005. "Technological convergence, R&D, trade and productivity growth," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 775-807, April.
    20. Wolfgang Keller, 2004. "International Technology Diffusion," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 42(3), pages 752-782, September.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D20 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - General
    • J82 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Labor Force Composition
    • L20 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:vfsc15:113205. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfsocea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.