Immigration, Human Capital and Growth in the Host Country: Evidence from Pooled Country Data

Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP875

Authors: Juan J. Dolado; Alessandra Goria; Andrea L. Chino

Abstract: Immigration as a source of population growth is traditionally represented by neoclassical growth models with negative output and growth effects in per capita terms for the host economy. The reasoning behind this is the assumption of decreasing returns to labour in the production function. This paper explores how different these effects can be when the human capital brought in by immigrants upon arrival is explicitly considered in the Solow growth model augmented by human capital relative to natives. Both descriptive and econometric evidence for a sample of OECD economies is presented in order to evaluate the magnitude of such effects.

Keywords: cross-country growth; immigration; human capital; Solow's model

JEL Codes: F43; J61; O40; O41


Causal Claims Network Graph

Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.


Causal Claims

CauseEffect
Immigration (F22)per capita output (E23)
Human capital of immigrants (J61)per capita output (E23)
Human capital of immigrants (J61)economic growth (O49)
Immigration (F22)economic growth (O49)
Human capital of immigrants (J61)speed of adjustment towards steady-state growth (O41)

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