Immigrants and international students play an important role in the STEM workforce and in promoting innovation and entrepreneurship in the US. The chapters herein use rigorous empirical analysis and new data to understand different aspects of the relationship between immigration and innovation and entrepreneurship. They address three main themes. First are the location choices of STEM doctoral recipients and return migration, about which there has been little research to date, which are important because countries sending large numbers of STEM students and workers to the US are becoming more a ... More

Immigrants and international students play an important role in the STEM workforce and in promoting innovation and entrepreneurship in the US. The chapters herein use rigorous empirical analysis and new data to understand different aspects of the relationship between immigration and innovation and entrepreneurship. They address three main themes. First are the location choices of STEM doctoral recipients and return migration, about which there has been little research to date, which are important because countries sending large numbers of STEM students and workers to the US are becoming more attractive destinations for STEM careers. Second is the effect of variation in the number of immigrants on the rate of innovation among immigrants as well as natives, and how this depends on the skill composition of immigrant flows. Third is the relationship between high-skilled immigration and entrepreneurship and the differences between immigrant and native entrepreneurs. Immigration, innovation, and entrepreneurship can all be difficult to measure using conventional data sources, but these chapters use new data or exploit existing data in creative ways. They analyze how and why rates of innovation and entrepreneurship are different for immigrants and natives, and describe the key role played by immigrants’ networks—from today’s high tech entrepreneurs to the historical importance of language similarities. They examine the effects of innovation by immigrants on revenue growth, and the roles of US higher education and visa policy in attracting and retaining highly skilled foreigners.