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High skilled mobility under uncertainty

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  • Bisset, Jordan
  • Czarnitzki, Dirk
  • Doherr, Thorsten

Abstract

Previous work suggests a general uncertainty surrounding the migration process acts as a barrier to outmigration. In this paper, we argue that this barrier is exacerbated when relative economic policy uncertainty is higher in the target country and mitigated when relatively higher in the origin country. We use a novel inventor career panel to observe inventor migration from 12 European countries between 1997 and 2012 and test the premise that a higher relative uncertainty in the origin country raises the probability of inventor outmigration. Our results suggest a 1 standard deviation increase in the relative uncertainty of the home country is associated with a near 20% increase in the probability of inventor outmigration. The relationship is highly non-linear, with relative uncertainty values in the top centile leading to an increase of over 70%. The observed effects can be amplified or dampened by inventor specific characteristics, as would be expected given the prior art.

Suggested Citation

  • Bisset, Jordan & Czarnitzki, Dirk & Doherr, Thorsten, 2023. "High skilled mobility under uncertainty," ZEW Discussion Papers 23-004, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
  • Handle: RePEc:zbw:zewdip:23004
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Outmigration; Uncertainty; Human Capital; Inventors;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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