Inventor migration and knowledge flows: A two-way communication channel?

Ernest Miguelez and Claudia Noumedem Temgoua

Research Policy, 2020, vol. 49, issue 9

Abstract: This paper documents the influence of networks of highly skilled migrants on the international diffusion of knowledge – particularly those with degrees and occupations in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It investigates knowledge inflows to host countries brought in by skilled immigrants. It then explores knowledge feedback to home countries generated by these migrants. We test our hypotheses in a country-pair gravity model setting, for the period 1990–2010, using patent citations across countries to measure international knowledge diffusion. Our results confirm our hypotheses on the positive impact of skilled migrants on knowledge flows to host and home countries. However, the former are not robust to instrumental variables and country-pair fixed-effects, and only matter in certain contexts: when the sending countries are developing nations and for knowledge diffusion within the boundaries of multinationals.

Keywords: STEM migration; Knowledge diffusion; Inventors; PCT patents; Gravity models (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C8 J61 O31 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (24)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004873331930232X
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
Working Paper: Inventor Migration and Knowledge Flows: A Two-Way Communication Channel ? (2020)
Working Paper: Inventor Migration and Knowledge Flows: A Two-Way Communication Channel? (2016)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:respol:v:49:y:2020:i:9:s004873331930232x

DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2019.103914

Access Statistics for this article

Research Policy is currently edited by M. Bell, B. Martin, W.E. Steinmueller, A. Arora, M. Callon, M. Kenney, S. Kuhlmann, Keun Lee and F. Murray

More articles in Research Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().