G-MonD Note n° 15
Migration, knowledge diffusion and the dynamic comparative advantage of nations
G-MonD note n°15 - April 2016
Authors: Dany Bahar et Hillel Rapoport
Abstract:
The fact that knowledge diffusion – at least for its “tacit” component – requires direct human interaction implies that the international diffusion of knowledge should follow the pattern of international migration. The main finding of our research is that migration, and particularly skilled immigration, is a strong and robust driver of productive knowledge diffusion. We measure knowledge diffusion through the appearance of new goods in the export basket of countries and show that the appearance of new goods (at the extensive margin) or the growth of exports of certain goods (at the intensive margin) is positively affected by immigration from, or emigration to countries with a strong comparative advantage in the production of those goods. The results are robust to accounting for shifts in product-specific global demand, to excluding bilateral trade possibly generated by network effects, as well as to instrumenting for migration using a gravity model.
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