High-Skill Immigration, Innovation, and Creative Destruction / Gaurav Khanna, Munseob Lee.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Khanna, Gaurav.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Lee, Munseob.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w24824.

NBER working paper series no. w24824

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2018.

Summary:

Economists have identified product entry and exit as a primary channel through which innovation impacts economic growth. In this paper, we document how high-skill immigration affects product reallocation (entry and exit) at the firm level. Using data on H-1B Labor Condition Applications (LCAs) matched to retail scanner data on products and Compustat data on firm characteristics, we find that H-1B certification is associated with higher product reallocation and revenue growth. A ten percent increase in the share of H-1B workers is associated with a two percent increase in product reallocation rates - our measure of innovation. These results shed light on the economic consequences of innovation by high-skill immigrant to the United States.

Notes:

Print version record

July 2018.