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The Contribution of High-Skilled Immigrants to Innovation in the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Shai Bernstein
  • Rebecca Diamond
  • Abhisit Jiranaphawiboon
  • Timothy McQuade
  • Beatriz Pousada

Abstract

We characterize the contribution of immigrants to US innovation, both through their direct productivity as well as through their indirect spillover effects on their native collaborators. To do so, we link patent records to a database containing the first five digits of more than 230 million of Social Security Numbers (SSN). By combining this part of the SSN together with year of birth, we identify whether individuals are immigrants based on the age at which their Social Security Number is assigned. We find immigrants represent 16 percent of all US inventors, but produced 23 percent of total innovation output, as measured by number of patents, patent citations, and the economic value of these patents. Immigrant inventors are more likely to rely on foreign technologies, to collaborate with foreign inventors, and to be cited in foreign markets, thus contributing to the importation and diffusion of ideas across borders. Using an identification strategy that exploits premature inventor deaths, we find that immigrant inventors create especially strong positive externalities on the innovation production of their collaborators, while natives have a much weaker impact. A simple decomposition illustrates that immigrants are responsible for 36% of aggregate innovation, two-thirds of which is due to their innovation externalities on their native-born collaborators.

Suggested Citation

  • Shai Bernstein & Rebecca Diamond & Abhisit Jiranaphawiboon & Timothy McQuade & Beatriz Pousada, 2022. "The Contribution of High-Skilled Immigrants to Innovation in the United States," NBER Working Papers 30797, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30797
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    Cited by:

    1. Bahar, Dany & Choudhury, Prithwiraj & Rapoport, Hillel, 2020. "Migrant inventors and the technological advantage of nations," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(9).
    2. Xu, Yibin & Chen, Zhibin & Fan, Rui, 2023. "Highly skilled foreign labor introduction policies and corporate innovation: Evidence from a natural experiment in China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 137-156.
    3. Advani, Arun & Koenig, Felix & Pessina, Lorenzo & Summers, Andy, 2020. "Importing Inequality: Immigration and the Top 1 Percent," IZA Discussion Papers 13731, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Stephen G. Dimmock & Jiekun Huang & Scott J. Weisbenner, 2022. "Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your High-Skilled Labor: H-1B Lottery Outcomes and Entrepreneurial Success," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(9), pages 6950-6970, September.
    5. Downes, Henry & Phillips, David C. & Sullivan, James X., 2022. "The effect of emergency financial assistance on healthcare use," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    6. Antonin Bergeaud & Cyril Verluise, 2022. "A new dataset to study a century of innovation in Europe and the US," POID Working Papers 033, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    7. Kyung Min Lee & Mee Jung Kim & J. David Brown & John S. Earle & Zhen Liu, 2023. "Are Immigrants More Innovative? Evidence from Entrepreneurs," Working Papers 23-56, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    8. Ernest Miguelez & Andrea Morrison, 2023. "Migrant inventors as agents of technological change," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(2), pages 669-692, April.
    9. Nicholas Bloom & John Van Reenen & Heidi Williams, 2019. "A toolkit of policies to promote innovation," Voprosy Ekonomiki, NP Voprosy Ekonomiki, issue 10.
    10. Santamaria, J., 2022. "‘When a Stranger Shall Sojourn with Thee': The Impact of the Venezuelan Exodus on Colombian Labor Markets," Documentos de trabajo - Alianza EFI 20046, Alianza EFI.
    11. Sarah Miller & Norman Johnson & Laura R Wherry, 2021. "Medicaid and Mortality: New Evidence From Linked Survey and Administrative Data," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 136(3), pages 1783-1829.
    12. Burchardi, Konrad & Terry, Stephen & Chaney, Thomas & Tarquinio, Lisa & Hassan, Tarek, 2020. "Immigration, Innovation, and Growth," CEPR Discussion Papers 14719, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    13. Benjamin Balsmeier & Lee Fleming & Matt Marx & Seungryul Ryan Shin, 2020. "Skilled Human Capital and High-Growth Entrepreneurship: Evidence from Inventor Inflows," NBER Working Papers 27605, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Nicholas Bloom & John Van Reenen & Heidi Williams, 2019. "A toolkit of policies to promote innovation," Voprosy Ekonomiki, NP Voprosy Ekonomiki, issue 10.
    15. Bian, Bo & Meier, Jean-Marie & Xu, Ting, 2021. "Cross-Border Institutions and the Globalization of Innovation," LawFin Working Paper Series 23, Goethe University, Center for Advanced Studies on the Foundations of Law and Finance (LawFin).
    16. Chen, Jun & Hshieh, Shenje & Zhang, Feng, 2021. "The role of high-skilled foreign labor in startup performance: Evidence from two natural experiments," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(1), pages 430-452.
    17. Douglas Barrios & Nikita Taniparti & Ricardo Hausmann & Clement Brenot & Can Soylu & Roukaya El Houda & Ekaterina Vashkinskaya & Felicia Belostecinic & Sophia Henn, 2023. "A Growth Diagnostic of Kazakhstan," CID Working Papers 427, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    18. Myra Mohnen, 2022. "Stars and Brokers: Knowledge Spillovers Among Medical Scientists," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(4), pages 2513-2532, April.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J6 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and 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

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