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Migration and invention in the age of mass migration

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  • Dario Diodato
  • Andrea Morrison
  • Sergio Petralia

Abstract

More than 30 million people migrated to the US between the 1850s and 1920s and in order of thousands became inventors and patentees. Drawing on a novel dataset of immigrant inventors in the US, we assess the city-level impact of immigrants' patenting and their contribution to the technological specialization of the receiving US regions between 1870 and 1940. Our results show that native inventors benefited from the inventive activity of immigrants. We find that immigrant inventors imported knowledge from their home country, which generated positive local spill-overs. In addition, we show that the knowledge transferred by immigrants gave rise to new and previously not exiting technological fields in the US regions where immigrants moved to. Our findings are robust to several checks and the implementation of an instrumental variable strategy.

Suggested Citation

  • Dario Diodato & Andrea Morrison & Sergio Petralia, 2018. "Migration and invention in the age of mass migration," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1835, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Oct 2018.
    • Handle: RePEc:egu:wpaper:1835
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    Cited by:

    1. Francesco Campo & Mariapia Mendola & Andrea Morrison & Gianmarco Ottaviano, "undated". "Immigrant Inventors and Diversity in the Age of Mass Migration," Development Working Papers 464, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano.
    2. Matthias Niggli, 2023. "‘Moving On’—investigating inventors’ ethnic origins using supervised learning," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 23(4), pages 921-947.
    3. Ernest Miguelez & Andrea Morrison, 2023. "Migrant inventors as agents of technological change," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(2), pages 669-692, April.
    4. Bergeaud, Antonin & Verluise, Cyril, 2024. "A new dataset to study a century of innovation in Europe and in the US," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(1).
    5. Koen Frenken & Frank Neffke & Alje van Dam, 2023. "Capabilities, institutions and regional economic development: a proposed synthesis," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 16(3), pages 405-416.
    6. Anckaert, Paul-Emmanuel & Uhlbach, Wolf-Hendrik, 2024. "Migration and innovation: How foreign R&D hires shape firm-level exploration in their host country," Other publications TiSEM aa9ac9d1-4531-43a1-bbb3-2, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    7. Eduardo Hernandez-Rodriguez & Ron Boschma & Andrea Morrison & Xianjia Ye, 2024. "Functional upgrading and downgrading in global value chains: The role of complementary interregional value chain linkages in EU regions," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2432, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Oct 2024.
    8. Olena Ivus & Alireza Naghavi & Larry D. Qiu, 2023. "Migration and Imitation," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 90(357), pages 212-239, January.
    9. Francesco Campo & Mariapia Mendola & Andrea Morrison & Gianmarco Ottaviano, "undated". "Immigrant Inventors and Diversity in the Age of Mass Migration," Development Working Papers 464, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano.
    10. Diodato, Dario & Hausmann, Ricardo & Neffke, Frank, 2023. "The impact of return migration on employment and wages in Mexican cities," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    11. Andrea Morrison, 2023. "Towards an evolutionary economic geography research agenda to study migration and innovation," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 16(3), pages 529-542.
    12. Matthias Niggli, 2023. "‘Moving On’—investigating inventors’ ethnic origins using supervised learning," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 23(4), pages 921-947.
    13. Wai, Sebastian, 2023. "Inventor mobility and spillovers in the early semiconductor industry," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    14. Seyed Peyman Asadi & Ahmad Jafari Samimi, 2019. "Lagging-behind Areas as a Challenge to the Regional Development Strategy: What Insights can New and Evolutionary Economic Geography Offer?," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1923, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Jul 2019.
    15. J. Giorgi & A. Plunket & F. Starosta De Waldemar, 2024. "Inter-regional highly skilled worker mobility and technological novelty," Documents de Travail de l'Insee - INSEE Working Papers 2024-05, Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques.
    16. Milad Abbasiharofteh & Tom Broekel & Lars Mewes, 2024. "The Roles of Geographic Distance and Technological Complexity in U.S. Interregional Co-patenting Over Almost Two Centuries," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2414, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised May 2024.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    immigration; innovation; knowledge spill-over; patent; age of mass migration; US;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • R3 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location

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