The Contribution Of Skilled Immigration And International Graduate Students To U.S. Innovation

Abstract

The impact of international students and skilled immigration in the United States on innovative activity is estimated using a model of idea generation. In the main specification a system of three equations is estimated, where dependent variables are total patent applications, patents awarded to U.S. universities, and patents awarded to other U.S. entities, each scaled by the domestic labor force. Results indicate that both international graduate students and skilled immigrants have a significant and positive impact on future patent applications as well as future patents awarded to university and non-university institutions. Our central estimates suggest that a ten-percent increase in the number of foreign graduate students would raise patent applications by 3.3 percent, university patent grants by 6.0 percent and non-university patent grants by 4.0 percent. However, enrollments of US graduate students have no detectable effect. There is evidence that bureaucratic hurdles in obtaining student visas are impediments to innovation and may reduce innovation by more than it is increased by the Bayh-Dole Act.

Immigration and Innovation: Chinese Graduate Students in U.S. Universities

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The Global Role of the U.S. Economy: Linkages, Policies and Spillovers

“…16 Immigration generally appears to raise aggregate wages and lower prices as well as stimulate investment and innovation (Peri 2010;Greenstone and Looney 2012;Hunt and Gaultier-Loiselle 2010;Chellaraj, Maskus and Mattoo 2008).…”

Are Foreign IT Workers Cheaper? U.S. Visa Policies and Compensation of Information Technology Professionals

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