Abstract
This paper documents the influence of networks of highly skilled migrants on the international diffusion of knowledge – particularly those with degrees and occupations in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It investigates knowledge inflows to host countries brought in by skilled immigrants. It then explores knowledge feedback to home countries generated by these migrants. We test our hypotheses in a country-pair gravity model setting, for the period 1990–2010, using patent citations across countries to measure international knowledge diffusion. Our results confirm our hypotheses on the positive impact of skilled migrants on knowledge flows to host and home countries. However, the former are not robust to instrumental variables and country-pair fixed-effects, and only matter in certain contexts: when the sending countries are developing nations and for knowledge diffusion within the boundaries of multinationals.
Highlights
High-skilled workers are an important asset for a country’s growth as they impact directly on knowledge production and diffusion (Nelson and Phelps, 1966; Vandenbussche et al, 2006)
We test whether the stock of migrant inventors originally from country i and resident in country j is positively associated with knowledge inflows (KI) into country j, originating from country i
Using inventors as a proxy for STEM migrants and their declared nationality to infer their migratory background, we have provided new results on the relationship between STEM migration and knowledge brought into their host countries, as well as knowledge sent back to their homelands
Summary
High-skilled workers are an important asset for a country’s growth as they impact directly on knowledge production and diffusion (Nelson and Phelps, 1966; Vandenbussche et al, 2006). More migrants contribute to more culturally diverse societies, alongside the increased creativity and complexity that goes with it (Alesina et al, 2016; Bosetti et al, 2015; Ferrucci and Lissoni, 2019; Kemeny and Cooke, 2018) Fourth, they may favor inward FDI (Hernandez, 2014) as well as cross-border acquisitions (Useche et al, 2019). Skilled immigrants are sources of knowledge transfer by themselves, from their original countries to the host countries, as they bring new skills, abilities and ideas to the receiving society (Lissoni, 2018) They have the ability to transfer knowledge to their host country and to their firm that was previously locked within the cultural context of their homelands (Choudhury and Kim, 2019). We hypothesize that larger stocks of immigrants originating from country i who are residents in country j are likely to increase knowledge diffusion from origin country i to receiving country j
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