The Effects of High-Skilled Immigration Policy on Firms: Evidence from Visa Lotteries

Kirk Doran, Alexander Gelber () and Adam Isen

No 20668, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We compare winning and losing firms in lotteries for H-1B visas, matching administrative data on these lotteries to administrative tax data on U.S. firms and to approved U.S. patents. Winning one additional H-1B visa crowds out about 1.5 other workers at the firm. Additional H-1Bs have insignificant and at most modest effects on firm innovation. More general evidence from the universe of U.S. firms and the universe of H-1B visas using alternative estimation strategies is consistent with these results. Firms that hire H-1Bs grow faster and innovate more because they are different in other ways from firms that do not.

JEL-codes: J18 J21 J23 J24 J44 J48 J61 O3 O32 O34 O38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ino, nep-ipr, nep-pr~, nep-lma and nep-mig
Note: LS PE PR
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (36)

Published as Kirk Doran & Alexander Gelber & Adam Isen, 2022. "The Effects of High-Skilled Immigration Policy on Firms: Evidence from Visa Lotteries," Journal of Political Economy, vol 130(10), pages 2501-2533.

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Working Paper: The Effects of High-Skilled Immigration Policy on Firms: Evidence from Visa Lotteries (2022)
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