Knowledge remittances: Does emigration foster innovation?

Thomas A. Fackler, Yvonne Giesing and Nadzeya Laurentsyeva ()

Research Policy, 2020, vol. 49, issue 9

Abstract: Does the emigration of skilled individuals necessarily result in losses for source countries due to a brain drain? Combining industry-level patenting and migration data from 32 European countries, we show that emigration positively contributes to innovation in source countries and does not increase asymmetries in innovation levels between more and less advanced countries. We use changes in the labour mobility legislation within Europe as exogenous variation to establish causality. In addition, by analysing patent citation data, we provide evidence that these positive effects are driven by knowledge flows triggered by migrants. While skilled migrants are not inventing in their home country anymore, they contribute to cross-border knowledge and technology diffusion.

Keywords: Migration; Innovation; Knowledge spillovers; Patent citations; EU Enlargement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F22 J61 O31 O33 O52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Knowledge remittances: Does emigration foster innovation? (2020)
Working Paper: Knowledge Remittances: Does Emigration Foster Innovation? (2018)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:respol:v:49:y:2020:i:9:s0048733319301829

DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2019.103863

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