Ethnic Innovation and U.S. Multinational Firm Activity / C. Fritz Foley, William R. Kerr.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Foley, C. Fritz.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Kerr, William R.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w17336.

NBER working paper series no. w17336

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2011.

Summary:

This paper studies the impact that immigrant innovators have on the global activities of U.S. firms by analyzing detailed data on patent applications and on the operations of the foreign affiliates of U.S. multinational firms. The results indicate that increases in the share of a firm's innovation performed by inventors of a particular ethnicity are associated with increases in the share of that firm's affiliate activity in their native countries. Ethnic innovators also appear to facilitate the disintegration of innovative activity across borders and to allow U.S. multinationals to form new affiliates abroad without the support of local joint venture partners. Thus, this paper points out that immigration can enhance the competitiveness of multinational firms.

Notes:

Print version record

August 2011.