Immigration and Innovation: Evidence from Canadian Cities

Joel Blit, Mikal Skuterud and Jue Zhang ()
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Jue Zhang: University of Waterloo

No 10689, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We examine the effect of changes in skilled-immigrant population shares in 98 Canadian cities between 1981 and 2006 on per capita patents. The Canadian case is of interest because its 'points system' for selecting immigrants is viewed as a model of skilled immigration policy. Our estimates suggest unambiguously smaller beneficial impacts of increasing the university-educated immigrant population share than comparable U.S. estimates, whereas our estimates of the contribution of Canadian-born university graduates are virtually identical in magnitude to the U.S. estimates. The modest contribution of Canadian immigrants to innovation is, in large part, explained by the low employment rates of Canadian STEM-educated immigrants in STEM jobs. Our results point to the value of providing employers with a role in the immigrant screening process.

Keywords: immigration policy; innovation; immigration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J18 J61 O31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 30 pages
Date: 2017-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ino, nep-lab, nep-mig, nep-tid and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Published - published as 'Can skilled immigration raise innovation? Evidence from Canadian Cities' in: Journal of Economic Geography, 2020, 20 (4), 879 - 901

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Working Paper: Immigration and innovation: Evidence from Canadian cities (2017)
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