Immigrants' Contribution to Innovativeness: Evidence from a Non-Selective Immigration Country

Arbeitspapier

The economic consequences of migration are hotly debated and a main topic of recent populist movements across Europe. We analyze Polish immigration in the context of the 2004 enlargement of the European Union and find a positive and significant spillover effect of the immigrants on the number of local inventors in German counties in 2001-2010. For causal identification, we exploit a historical episode in the Polish migration history to Germany before the fall of the Iron Curtain and construct a shift-share instrument. Our results differ from findings for high-skilled migration to the United States, which is particularly interesting as Polish immigration to Germany was not based on selection by qualification in our period of analysis.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: CESifo Working Paper ; No. 7409

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers ; Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
• Subject: migration ; innovation

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Candel-Haug, Katharina ; Cuntz, Alexander ; Falck, Oliver
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo)
• (where): Munich
• (when): 2018

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/191434
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET