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Increasing Canada's International Competitiveness: Is There a Link between Skilled Immigrants and Innovation?

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  • Partridge, Jamie
  • Furtan, William Hartley

Abstract

We use an augmented national ideas production function to examine skilled immigrants' impact on Canadian innovation at the provincial level. Empirically, this model was tested using Canadian data by province on innovation flow over an 11 year time period, where innovation flow is defined in terms of international (U.S.) patents. It was found that skilled immigrants, who are proficient in either English or French, have a significant and positive impact on innovation flow in their home province. Further, in examining skilled immigrants by source region, it was found that skilled immigrants from developed countries have the greatest impact on their home province's innovation flow. This is true of North American/European skilled immigrants for all skill-level categories including language proficiency, education, and immigrant class. For immigrants from developing countries, only highly educated Eastern Europeans and Low Income Asians classified as "Independent Workers" are both significant and positively related to their home province's innovation flow.

Suggested Citation

  • Partridge, Jamie & Furtan, William Hartley, 2008. "Increasing Canada's International Competitiveness: Is There a Link between Skilled Immigrants and Innovation?," 2008 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2008, Orlando, Florida 6504, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:aaea08:6504
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.6504
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    Cited by:

    1. Viola von Berlepsch & Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Neil Lee, 2019. "A woman’s touch? Female migration and economic development in the United States," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(1), pages 131-145, January.
    2. Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés & Von Berlepsch, Viola, 2017. "Does population diversity matter for economic development in the very long-term? Historic migration, diversity and county wealt," CEPR Discussion Papers 12347, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés & Von Berlepsch, Viola, 2012. "When migrants rule: the legacy of mass migration on economic development in the US," CEPR Discussion Papers 9122, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. Olena Ivus & Alireza Naghavi, 2014. "Migration, technology diffusion and institutional development at the origin," Chapters, in: Robert E.B. Lucas (ed.), International Handbook on Migration and Economic Development, chapter 10, pages 267-287, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    5. Ceren Ozgen & Peter Nijkamp & Jacques Poot, 2012. "Immigration and innovation in European regions," Chapters, in: Peter Nijkamp & Jacques Poot & Mediha Sahin (ed.), Migration Impact Assessment, chapter 8, pages 261-298, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Ceren Ozgen, 2021. "The economics of diversity: Innovation, productivity and the labour market," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(4), pages 1168-1216, September.
    7. Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés & Crescenzi, Riccardo, 2012. "R&D, Socio-Economic Conditions and Regional Innovation in the United States," CEPR Discussion Papers 9265, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Ernest Miguelez & Carsten Fink, 2013. "Measuring the International Mobility of Inventors: A New Database," WIPO Economic Research Working Papers 08, World Intellectual Property Organization - Economics and Statistics Division, revised May 2013.
    9. Dirk Dohse & Robert Gold, 2014. "Determining the Impact of Cultural Diversity on Regional Economies in Europe. WWWforEurope Working Paper No. 58," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 47204, April.
    10. Riccardo Crescenzi & Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, 2013. "R&D, Socio-Economic Conditions, and Regional Innovation in the U.S," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(2), pages 287-320, June.
    11. von Berlepsch, Viola & Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés, 2019. "The missing ingredient: distance internal migration and its long-term economic impact in the United States," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 91716, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    12. Simonetta Longhi & Peter Nijkamp & Jacques Poot, 2009. "Regional Economic Impacts of Immigration: A Review," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 09-047/3, Tinbergen Institute, revised 23 Jul 2009.
    13. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Viola Berlepsch, 2019. "Does Population Diversity Matter for Economic Development in the Very Long Term? Historic Migration, Diversity and County Wealth in the US," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 35(5), pages 873-911, December.
    14. Şerife Genç İleri, 2019. "Selective immigration policy and its impacts on Canada's native‐born population: A general equilibrium analysis," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 52(3), pages 954-992, August.
    15. Rashidi, Sheida & Pyka, Andreas, 2013. "Migration and innovation: A survey," FZID Discussion Papers 77-2013, University of Hohenheim, Center for Research on Innovation and Services (FZID).
    16. Dirk Dohse & Robert Gold, 2014. "Cultural Diversity and Economic Policy. WWWforEurope Working Paper No. 64," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 47494, April.
    17. repec:wip:wpaper:8 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés & Von Berlepsch, Viola & Lee, Neil, 2018. "A woman’s touch? Female migration and economic development in the United States," CEPR Discussion Papers 12878, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

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