Immigration and the Rise of American Ingenuity

Ufuk Akcigit, John Grigsby and Tom Nicholas

No 23137, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This paper builds on the analysis in Akcigit et al. (2017) by using US patent and Census data to examine macro and micro-level aspects of the relationship between immigration and innovation. We construct a measure of foreign born expertise and show that technology areas where immigrant inventors were prevalent between 1880 and 1940 experienced more patenting and citations between 1940 and 2000. We also show that immigrant inventors were more productive during their life cycle than native born inventors, although they received significantly lower levels of labor income than their native born counterparts. Overall, the contribution of foreign born inventors to US innovation was substantial, but we also find evidence of an immigrant inventor wage-gap that cannot be explained by differentials in productivity.

JEL-codes: N11 N12 O31 O40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his, nep-ino, nep-mig and nep-ure
Note: EFG PR
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (67)

Published as Ufuk Akcigit & John Grigsby & Tom Nicholas, 2017. "Immigration and the Rise of American Ingenuity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(5), pages 327-331, May.

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Journal Article: Immigration and the Rise of American Ingenuity (2017)
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