International knowledge flows and technological advance: the role of migration

Kacey N Douglas

doi:10.1186/s40176-015-0037-8

Kacey N Douglas

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s40176-015-0037-8

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Abstract

Abstract This paper investigates whether knowledge flows from host to source country as a result of migration, alleviating the negative effects associated with outward migration. Using a fixed effects Poisson regression, patent citations are used as a proxy for knowledge flows and regressed on immigration and other control variables; the effect of immigration on patent citations is found to be positive and statistically significant. Additionally, the coefficient on immigration is found to be robust to different parameter changes in the model. These results suggest that reverse knowledge flows from outward migration help mitigate negative effects of outward migration on source countries.

Highlights

Standard growth theory points out that technological progress is critical for achieving sustainable economic growth
This paper looks outside the realm of traditional labor market models of immigration to investigate whether immigration can create technological advance and long-run economic growth
The coefficient on immigration shows that an increase of 1,000 immigrants into the US from country j in the five years prior to year t is associated with a 0.03% increase in the number of forward citations with inventors in country j in year t

Summary

Introduction

Standard growth theory points out that technological progress is critical for achieving sustainable economic growth. The existing immigration literature analyzing the costs and benefits of immigration has often ignored the possibility that immigration affects the growth of technology in both source and destination countries Perhaps this failure is due to the fact that the traditional labor market models on which most immigration analysis is based do not address technological change. Traditional labor market models of immigration conclude that international migration leads to an increase in income in the host country and a decrease in the source country. If this migration could create knowledge flows from host to source countries, the detrimental effects on source countries associated with outward migration may be less than expected

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