High-Skilled Immigrants in the Rustbelt

From Richard Hermann:

Talent attraction is one of the quickest and lowest-cost avenues to building a rich, tech entrepreneurial ecosystem. To help inform the discussion on the need to prioritize regional economic development initiatives in Northeast Ohio and the Midwest around the attraction/retention of high-tech, mobile immigrant talent, please see the recent studies.

1.)  "How Much Does Immigration Boost Innovation?" (September 2008):  Hunt, Jennifer and Gauthier-Loiselle(September 2008). NBER Working Paper No. W14312 " We measure the extent to which skilled immigrants increase innovation in the United States by exploring individual patenting behavior as well as state-level determinants of patenting. The 2003 National Survey of College Graduates shows that immigrants patent at double the native rate, and that this is entirely accounted for by their disproportionately holding degrees in science and engineering.....we show that natives are not crowded out by immigrants, and that immigrants do have positive spill-overs, resulting in an increase in patents per capita of about 15% in response to a one percentage point increase in immigrant college graduates."

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1264574

2.) "Looking Ahead:  Opportunities and Challenges for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Owners," October, 2008, Dr. Chad Moutry, Chief Economist, Office of Advocacy, U.S. Small Business Administration: "there is a strong connection between immigration and high-technology entrepreneurship, suggesting that Americans should embrace the influx of new citizens"

http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/rs332tot.pdf

3.)   Wadhwa, Vivek, Saxenian, AnnaLee, Rissing, Ben and Gereffi, Gary,Skilled Immigration and Economic Growth(2008). Applied Research in Economic Development, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 6-14, 2008 "Skilled immigrants have achieved great success in founding U.S. engineering and technology startups, which have in turn contributed greatly to the country's economic growth over time. In this work we explore the educational attainment and career trajectories of these immigrant entrepreneurs....To maintain and grow the U.S. entrepreneurial landscape, future policy endeavors may target means of attracting and retaining innovative, highly skilled foreign minds."

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1141190

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