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Skilled Immigration and Firm-Level Upgrading as Exports Boosters in a Developing Country

Author

Listed:
  • Carlo Lombardo
  • Leonardo Peñaloza-Pacheco

Abstract

We examine firm-level upgrading in Colombian manufacturing firms as a result of a high-skilled labor supply shock triggered by the Venezuelan exodus. Using a unique and confidential dataset from 2013 to 2019 and a shift-share instrumental variables approach, we find that the increased supply of skilled workers primarily drove high-skill hires, especially in R&D divisions. This skill-upgrading process boosted investments in R&D activities. Improved access to higher-quality inputs led to better production and organizational processes, product enhancements, and an increased likelihood of obtaining quality certifications, which serve as a straightforward objective measure of firm-level upgrading. Collectively, these changes were crucial for firms to increase their exports at both the extensive and intensive margins. This effect was driven by a rise in differentiated product exports, allowing firms to enter new and more sophisticated markets, particularly in high- and upper-middle-income countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Carlo Lombardo & Leonardo Peñaloza-Pacheco, 2025. "Skilled Immigration and Firm-Level Upgrading as Exports Boosters in a Developing Country," CESifo Working Paper Series 11645, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11645
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    File URL: https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp11645.pdf
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    firm-level upgrading; migration; trade; development;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • F16 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Labor Market Interactions
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • L16 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Industrial Organization and Macroeconomics; Macroeconomic Industrial Structure
    • O14 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Industrialization; Manufacturing and Service Industries; Choice of Technology
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives

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