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The mover’s advantage: The superior performance of migrant scientists

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  • Franzoni, Chiara
  • Scellato, Giuseppe
  • Stephan, Paula

Abstract

Migrant scientists outperform domestic scientists. The result persists after instrumenting migration for reasons of work or study with migration in childhood to minimize the effect of selection. The results are consistent with theories of knowledge recombination and specialty matching.

Suggested Citation

  • Franzoni, Chiara & Scellato, Giuseppe & Stephan, Paula, 2014. "The mover’s advantage: The superior performance of migrant scientists," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 122(1), pages 89-93.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:122:y:2014:i:1:p:89-93
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2013.10.040
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Chiara Franzoni & Giuseppe Scellato & Paula Stephan, 2012. "Foreign Born Scientists: Mobility Patterns for Sixteen Countries," NBER Working Papers 18067, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    Cited by:

    1. repec:bla:ecinqu:v:55:y:2017:i:3:p:1308-1323 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Pedro Albarrán & Raquel Carrasco & Javier Ruiz-Castillo, 2017. "Are Migrants More Productive Than Stayers? Some Evidence From A Set Of Highly Productive Academic Economists," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 55(3), pages 1308-1323, July.
    3. Baruffaldi, Stefano H. & Di Maio, Giorgio & Landoni, Paolo, 2017. "Determinants of PhD holders’ use of social networking sites: An analysis based on LinkedIn," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 740-750.
    4. Cuntz, Alexander & Czernich, Nina & Dauchert, Helge & Meurer, Petra & Philipps, Annika, 2015. "Gesellschaftliche Dimensionen von Innovation: Zentrale Fragen und Datenlage," Studien zum deutschen Innovationssystem 18-2015, Expertenkommission Forschung und Innovation (EFI) - Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation, Berlin.
    5. Yannu Zheng & Olof Ejermo, 2015. "How do the foreign-born perform in inventive activity? Evidence from Sweden," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 28(3), pages 659-695, July.
    6. Mohammadi, Ali & Broström, Anders & Franzoni, Chiara, 2015. "Work Force Composition and Innovation: How Diversity in Employees’ Ethnical and Disciplinary Backgrounds Facilitates Knowledge Re-combination," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 413, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    7. Kenney, Martin & Patton, Donald, 2015. "Gender, ethnicity and entrepreneurship in initial public offerings: illustrations from an open database," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(9), pages 1773-1784.
    8. Agnes Bäker & Susanne Breuninger & Julia Muschallik & Kerstin Pull & Uschi Backes-Gellner, 2016. "Time to Go? (Inter)National Mobility and Appointment Success of Young Academics," Schmalenbach Business Review, Springer;Schmalenbach-Gesellschaft, vol. 17(3), pages 401-421, December.
    9. Gibson, John & McKenzie, David, 2014. "Scientific mobility and knowledge networks in high emigration countries: Evidence from the Pacific," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(9), pages 1486-1495.
    10. Phillips, J.C., 2015. "Phase transitions in the web of science," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 428(C), pages 173-177.
    11. Scellato, Giuseppe & Franzoni, Chiara & Stephan, Paula, 2015. "Migrant scientists and international networks," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 108-120.
    12. Fernandez-Zubieta, Ana & Geuna, Aldo & Lawson, Cornelia, 2015. "What do We Know of the Mobility of Research Scientists and of its Impact on Scientific Production," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201522, University of Turin.
    13. repec:spr:scient:v:113:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1007_s11192-017-2264-7 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Maki Kato & Asao Ando, 2017. "National ties of international scientific collaboration and researcher mobility found in Nature and Science," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 110(2), pages 673-694, February.
    15. Sultan Orazbayev, 2017. "Diversity and collaboration in Economics," UCL SSEES Economics and Business working paper series 2017-4, UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES).
    16. Shibayama, Sotaro & Baba, Yasunori, 2015. "Impact-oriented science policies and scientific publication practices: The case of life sciences in Japan," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(4), pages 936-950.
    17. Bäker, Agnes, 2015. "Non-tenured post-doctoral researchers’ job mobility and research output: An analysis of the role of research discipline, department size, and coauthors," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 634-650.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Foreign-born scientists; High-skilled migration; Scientist mobility; Brain drain; Migrant selection;

    JEL classification:

    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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