Do immigrants affect the profile of U.S. exporters?

Abstract

ABSTRACTWe highlight that an increase in the stock of immigrants corresponds with greater numbers of U.S. firms that engage in exporting to foreign markets. Our results are obtained from the estimation of a multi-level mixed effects model. Overall, the effect of immigrants is relatively larger among small- and medium-sized enterprises and is smaller among large-sized enterprises. There are, however, considerable differences, both in the magnitude and in nature of the observed effects of immigrants on manufactured and non-manufactured goods exporters of comparable size categories. Similarly, heterogeneity is found in the effects of immigrants on the numbers of small-, medium-, and large-sized exporters across home country cohorts that are grouped by World Bank income classifications and by broad regional classifications of destination markets. These findings imply that immigration has the potential to alter the profile of domestic firms involved in exporting.