Migration, Innovation, and Growth: An African Story?

Arbeitspapier

This chapter brings new evidence on the relationship between short-term labour mobility, as proxied by tourism flows, and innovation in Africa. Using data from 34 African countries over the period 2011-2016 sourced from the World Bank’s Enterprise Survey, we find that short–term mobility positively contributes to innovation, making this a potentially effective channel for economic development alongside established determinants such as investments in R&D, foreign direct investments, and trade. Short-term labour mobility thus emerges in Africa, too, as a prospective policy lever to generate new productive knowledge and promote sustainable economic growth.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 12533

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers ; Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration ; Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
• Subject: Africa ; innovation ; business visits ; labour mobility ; migration

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Mbaye, Linguère Mously ; Tani, Massimiliano
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2019

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/207359
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:45 AM CET