IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cii/cepidt/2025-17.html

Sectoral Linkages and the Impact of Immigration on Export Performance

Author

Listed:
  • Amandine Aubry
  • Anthony Edo

Abstract

This paper studies how immigrants in intermediate sectors affect downstream export performance. We develop a theoretical model in which a sector’s exports depend not only on its own immigrant workforce, but also on immigrant labor in input-supplying sectors. Using a new dataset on U.S. input–output from 2003-2017, we show that increases in immigrant employment in these sectors raise exports in connected downstream industries. This effect operates partly through improved production efficiency that lowers upstream input costs. By linking labor migration to production networks, we identify a new channel through which immigration shapes comparative advantage in international trade.

Suggested Citation

  • Amandine Aubry & Anthony Edo, 2025. "Sectoral Linkages and the Impact of Immigration on Export Performance," Working Papers 2025-17, CEPII research center.
    • Handle: RePEc:cii:cepidt:2025-17
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.cepii.fr/PDF_PUB/wp/2025/wp2025-17.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Orefice, Gianluca & Rapoport, Hillel & Santoni, Gianluca, 2025. "How Do Immigrants Promote Exports?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    2. Martyn Andrews & Thorsten Schank & Richard Upward, 2017. "Do foreign workers reduce trade barriers? Microeconomic evidence," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(9), pages 1750-1774, September.
    3. Aubry, Amandine & Burzyński, Michał & Docquier, Frédéric, 2016. "The welfare impact of global migration in OECD countries," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 1-21.
    4. Richard A. Kronmal, 1993. "Spurious Correlation and the Fallacy of the Ratio Standard Revisited," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 156(3), pages 379-392, May.
    5. Edo, Anthony & Özgüzel, Cem, 2023. "The impact of immigration on the employment dynamics of European regions," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    6. Jennifer Hunt & Marjolaine Gauthier-Loiselle, 2010. "How Much Does Immigration Boost Innovation?," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(2), pages 31-56, April.
    7. Parag Mahajan, 2024. "Immigration and Business Dynamics: Evidence from U.S. Firms," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 22(6), pages 2827-2869.
    8. Ottaviano, Gianmarco I.P. & Peri, Giovanni & Wright, Greg C., 2018. "Immigration, trade and productivity in services: Evidence from U.K. firms," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 88-108.
    9. Mette Foged & Giovanni Peri, 2016. "Immigrants' Effect on Native Workers: New Analysis on Longitudinal Data," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 8(2), pages 1-34, April.
    10. Patricia Cortes, 2008. "The Effect of Low-Skilled Immigration on U.S. Prices: Evidence from CPI Data," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 116(3), pages 381-422, June.
    11. Vasco M. Carvalho & Alireza Tahbaz-Salehi, 2019. "Production Networks: A Primer," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 11(1), pages 635-663, August.
    12. Joseph G. Altonji & David Card, 1991. "The Effects of Immigration on the Labor Market Outcomes of Less-skilled Natives," NBER Chapters, in: Immigration, Trade, and the Labor Market, pages 201-234, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Thomas Chaney, 2016. "Networks in International Trade," SciencePo Working papers hal-03259805, HAL.
    14. repec:hal:cesptp:hal-03481876 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Ethan Lewis, 2013. "Immigration and Production Technology," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 5(1), pages 165-191, May.
    16. Claudia Steinwender, 2018. "Real Effects of Information Frictions: When the States and the Kingdom Became United," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(3), pages 657-696, March.
    17. 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.
    18. Peter K. Schott, 2008. "The relative sophistication of Chinese exports [‘Manufacturing Earnings and Compensation in China’]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 23(53), pages 6-49.
    19. A. Colin Cameron & Jonah B. Gelbach & Douglas L. Miller, 2008. "Bootstrap-Based Improvements for Inference with Clustered Errors," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(3), pages 414-427, August.
    20. Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano & Giovanni Peri, 2021. "Rethinking The Effect Of Immigration On Wages," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Firms and Workers in a Globalized World Larger Markets, Tougher Competition, chapter 9, pages 245-290, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    21. Christopher Parsons & Pierre‐Louis Vézina, 2018. "Migrant Networks and Trade: The Vietnamese Boat People as a Natural Experiment," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(612), pages 210-234, July.
    22. Thomas Chaney, 2016. "Networks in International Trade," Sciences Po Economics Publications (main) hal-03259805, HAL.
    23. Miguel Cardoso & Ananth Ramanarayanan, 2022. "Immigrants and exports: Firm‐level evidence from Canada," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(3), pages 1250-1293, August.
    24. Kaivan Munshi, 2003. "Networks in the Modern Economy: Mexican Migrants in the U. S. Labor Market," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(2), pages 549-599.
    25. Gianluca Orefice & Giovanni Peri, 2024. "Immigration and Firm-Worker Matching," Post-Print hal-04929172, HAL.
    26. Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham & Isaac Sorkin & Henry Swift, 2020. "Bartik Instruments: What, When, Why, and How," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(8), pages 2586-2624, August.
    27. repec:hal:pseose:hal-00783759 is not listed on IDEAS
    28. Ethier, Wilfred J, 1982. "National and International Returns to Scale in the Modern Theory of International Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(3), pages 389-405, June.
    29. Andreas Hatzigeorgiou & Magnus Lodefalk, 2021. "A literature review of the nexus between migration and internationalization," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(3), pages 319-340, April.
    30. Felbermayr, Gabriel J. & Toubal, Farid, 2012. "Revisiting the Trade-Migration Nexus: Evidence from New OECD Data," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 928-937.
    31. Eaton, Jonathan & Kortum, Samuel, 1999. "International Technology Diffusion: Theory and Measurement," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 40(3), pages 537-570, August.
    32. Sanderson, Eleanor & Windmeijer, Frank, 2016. "A weak instrument F-test in linear IV models with multiple endogenous variables," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 190(2), pages 212-221.
    33. Christian Dustmann & Francesca Fabbri & Ian Preston, 2005. "The Impact of Immigration on the British Labour Market," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 115(507), pages 324-341, November.
    34. Frédéric Docquier & Çağlar Ozden & Giovanni Peri, 2016. "The Labour Market Effects Of Immigration And Emigration In Oecd Countries," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: The Economics of International Migration, chapter 6, pages 187-226, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    35. Lewis, Ethan & Peri, Giovanni, 2015. "Immigration and the Economy of Cities and Regions," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 625-685, Elsevier.
    36. Gould, David M, 1994. "Immigrant Links to the Home Country: Empirical Implications for U.S. Bilateral Trade Flows," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 76(2), pages 302-316, May.
    37. repec:bla:ecpoli:v:23:y:2008:i::p:5-49 is not listed on IDEAS
    38. Michael A. Clemens & Jennifer Hunt, 2019. "The Labor Market Effects of Refugee Waves: Reconciling Conflicting Results," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 72(4), pages 818-857, August.
    39. Gray, Rowena & Montresor, Giulia & Wright, Greg C., 2020. "Processing immigration shocks: Firm responses on the innovation margin," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    40. Krishna Patel & Francis Vella, 2013. "Immigrant Networks and Their Implications for Occupational Choice and Wages," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(4), pages 1249-1277, October.
    41. Murat Genc & Masood Gheasi & Peter Nijkamp & Jacques Poot, 2012. "The impact of immigration on international trade: a meta-analysis," Chapters, in: Peter Nijkamp & Jacques Poot & Mediha Sahin (ed.), Migration Impact Assessment, chapter 9, pages 301-337, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Ariu, Andrea, 2022. "Foreign workers, product quality, and trade: Evidence from a natural experiment," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    2. Anthony Edo, 2017. "The Impact of Immigration on Wage Dynamics: Evidence from the Algerian Independence War," Working Papers 2017-13, CEPII research center.
    3. Xie, Bin, 2017. "The Effects of Immigration Quotas on Wages, the Great Black Migration, and Industrial Development," IZA Discussion Papers 11214, IZA Network @ LISER.
    4. Ghose,Devaki & Wang,Zhiling, 2023. "Offshoring Response to High-Skilled Immigration : A Firm-Level Analysis," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10371, The World Bank.
    5. Massimiliano Bratti & Luca De Benedictis & Gianluca Santoni, 2020. "Immigrant entrepreneurs, diasporas, and exports," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(2), pages 249-272, March.
    6. Fabienne Helfer & Volker Grossmann & Aderonke Osikominu, 2023. "Correction: How does immigration affect housing costs in Switzerland?," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, Springer;Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics, vol. 159(1), pages 1-1, December.
    7. Aksel Erbahar & Ömer Tarık Gençosmanoğlu, 2023. "Migrants and imports: Evidence from Dutch firms," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 90(360), pages 1204-1228, October.
    8. Andreas Hatzigeorgiou & Patrik Karpaty & Richard Kneller & Magnus Lodefalk, 2024. "Immigrant employment and the contract enforcement costs of offshoring," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 160(3), pages 953-981, August.
    9. Ottaviano, Gianmarco I.P. & Peri, Giovanni & Wright, Greg C., 2018. "Immigration, trade and productivity in services: Evidence from U.K. firms," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 88-108.
    10. Lebow Jeremy, 2022. "The labor market effects of Venezuelan migration to Colombia: reconciling conflicting results†," IZA Journal of Development and Migration, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 13(1), pages 1-49, January.
    11. Marcus H. Böhme & Sarah Kups, 2017. "The economic effects of labour immigration in developing countries: A literature review," OECD Development Centre Working Papers 335, OECD Publishing.
    12. Edo, Anthony & Özgüzel, Cem, 2024. "Corrigendum to “The impact of immigration on the employment dynamics of European regions” [Labor Economics, Volume 85, 2023, 102433]," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    13. McCully, Brett A., 2024. "Immigrants, legal status, and illegal trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    14. Xie, Bin, 2025. "The aggregate and distributional effects of immigration restrictions: The 1920s Quota Acts and the Great Black Migration," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 25-55.
    15. Anthony Edo & Lionel Ragot & Hillel Rapoport & Sulin Sardoschau & Andreas Steinmayr & Arthur Sweetman, 2020. "An introduction to the economics of immigration in OECD countries," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 53(4), pages 1365-1403, November.
    16. Lewis, Ethan & Peri, Giovanni, 2015. "Immigration and the Economy of Cities and Regions," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 625-685, Elsevier.
    17. Mathias Bühler, 2023. "Trade and Regional Economic Development," CESifo Working Paper Series 10270, CESifo.
    18. Achyuta Adhvaryu, Cesar Anzola-Bravo Ana María Tribín-Uribe & Leonardo Bonilla-Mej�a, Juan Carlos Castro-Fern�ndez Oscar �vila-Montealegre & �nderson Grajales-Olarte, Alexander Guar�n Luz A. Fl�rez & , 2020. "Migración desde Venezuela en Colombia: caracterización del fenómeno y análisis de los efectos macroeconómicos," Revista ESPE - Ensayos Sobre Política Económica, Banco de la República, issue 97, pages 1-74.
    19. Fiorentini, Riccardo & Verashchagina, Alina, "undated". "Immigration and trade: the case study of Veneto region in Italy," 2017 Sixth AIEAA Conference, June 15-16, Piacenza, Italy 261261, Italian Association of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AIEAA).
    20. Michał Burzyński & Frédéric Docquier & Hillel Rapoport, 2018. "The Changing Structure of Immigration to the OECD: What Welfare Effects on Member Countries?," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 66(3), pages 564-601, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • F16 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Labor Market Interactions
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives

    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:cii:cepidt:2025-17. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cepiifr.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.