High-Skilled Migration to the United States and Its Economic Consequences (National Bureau of Economic Research Conference Report)

Présentation de l'éditeur : "Immigration policy is one of the most contentious public policy issues in the United States today. High-skilled immigrants represent an increasing share of the U.S. workforce, particularly in science and engineering fields. These immigrants affect economic growth, patterns of trade, education choices, and the earnings of workers with different types of skills. The chapters in this volume go beyond the traditional question of how the inflow of foreign workers affects native employment and earnings to explore effects on innovation and productivity, wage inequality across skill groups, the behavior of multinational firms, firm-level dynamics of entry and exit, and the nature of comparative advantage across countries." High-skilled immigrants represent an increasing share of the U.S. workforce, particularly in science and engineering fields. High-skill immigration cuts across the traditional field boundaries in economics, potentially impacting innovation and economic growth, patterns of trade, education choices, and the earnings of workers with different types of skills. The aim of the six chapters in this volume is to integrate ideas from trade, macro, industrial organization and labor in the study of high-skill immigration in the United States. The chapters in this volume bring models of firms and individuals to questions about how the growth of high-skill immigration affects broad-based economic outcomes. By applying a broad-based theoretical lens to the challenges and opportunities of high-skill talent flows to the United States, the chapters in this volume go beyond the questions of how the inflow of foreign workers affects native employment and earnings. The chapters consider additional margins of adjustment to high-skill immigration including the effects on innovation and productivity, the impact on overall inequality across skill groups, the particular response of multi-national firms, firm-level dynamics of entry and exit, the nature of comparative advantage across countries, while also identifying new margins of potential adjustment including digital markets and contests which extend globalization without the physical migration of labor Introduction / Gordon H. Hanson, William R. Kerr, and Sarah Turner -- High-skilled immigration and the comparative advantage of foreign-born workers across U.S.occupations / Gordon H. Hanson and Chen Liu -- The innovation activities of multinational enterprises and the demand for skilled worker, non-immigrant visas / Stephen Ross Yeaple -- Digital labor markets and global talent flows / John Horton, William R. Kerr, and Christopher Stanton -- Understanding the economic impact of the H-1b program on the U.S. / John Bound, Gaurav Khanna, and Nicolas Morales -- High-skilled immigration, stem employment, and non-routine-biased technical change / Nir Jaimovich and Henry E. Siu -- Firm dynamics and immigration: the case of high-skilled immigration / Michael E. Waugh Présentation de l'éditeur : "Immigration policy is one of the most contentious public policy issues in the United States today. High-skilled immigrants represent an increasing share of the U.S. workforce, particularly in science and engineering fields. These immigrants affect economic growth, patterns of trade, education choices, and the earnings of workers with different types of skills. The chapters in this volume go beyond the traditional question of how the inflow of foreign workers affects native employment and earnings to explore effects on innovation and productivity, wage inequality across skill groups, the behavior of multinational firms, firm-level dynamics of entry and exit, and the nature of comparative advantage across countries." The work contained in this volume helps create a clearer view of today's immigration and employment environment, and offers a fresh foundation for continued research.