Working Paper: NBER ID: w17336
Authors: C. Fritz Foley; William R. Kerr
Abstract: 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.
Keywords: Immigration; Innovation; Multinational Firms; Ethnicity
JEL Codes: F22; F23; J44; J61; O31; O32; O33; O57
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Ethnic Innovation (O35) | Affiliate Activity in Native Countries (J15) |
| Ethnic Share of US Patents (J15) | Affiliate Activity in Native Countries (J15) |
| Ethnic US Patents (J15) | Likelihood of Conducting R&D in Native Countries (O36) |
| Ethnic Innovators (O35) | Reliance on Joint Venture Partners (L24) |