Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(828)
- Faculty Publications (141)
- 2021
- Working Paper
The Contribution of High-Skilled Immigrants to Innovation in the United States
By: Shai Bernstein, Rebecca Diamond, Abhisit Jiranaphawiboon, Timothy McQuade and Beatriz Pousada
We characterize the contribution of immigrants to US innovation, both through their direct productivity as well as through their indirect spillover effects on their native collaborators. To do so, we link patent records to a database containing the first five digits of... View Details
- August 2022
- Case
Southwick Social Ventures
By: Henry McGee, Mel Martin and Amy Klopfenstein
In 2021, the HBS Impact Investment Fund student team had found a promising potential investment in Southwick Social Ventures (SSV), a worker and management-owned trouser manufacturer. With a 100% immigrant workforce, the co-operative was focused on reviving... View Details
- 2024
- Working Paper
The Impact of the Chinese Exclusion Act on the Economic Development of the Western U.S.
By: Joe Long, Carlo Medici, Nancy Qian and Marco Tabellini
This paper investigates the economic consequences of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, which banned immigration from China. The Act reduced the number of Chinese workers of all skill levels living in the United States. It also reduced the labor supply and the quality of... View Details
- August, 2022
- Article
Changing Ingroup Boundaries: The Effect of Immigration on Race Relations in the United States
By: Vasiliki Fouka and Marco Tabellini
How do social group boundaries evolve? Does the appearance of a new outgroup change the ingroup's perceptions of other outgroups? We introduce a conceptual framework of context-dependent categorization, in which exposure to one minority leads to recategorization of... View Details
- June 2022 (Revised November 2022)
- Case
The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Sweden's Utopia at a Crossroads
By: Debora L. Spar and Julia M. Comeau
Sweden’s model of capitalism rests on a unique social contract, in which social welfare priorities can co-exist within a vibrant capitalist system. In 2022, however, contemporary pressures were growing on the traditional Swedish model, including mounting calls for... View Details
- Article
From Immigrants to Americans: Race and Assimilation During the Great Migration
By: Vasiliki Fouka, Soumyajit Mazumder and Marco Tabellini
How does the arrival of a new minority group affect the social acceptance and outcomes of existing minorities? We study this question in the context of the First Great Migration. Between 1915 and 1930, 1.5 million African Americans moved from the U.S. South to Northern... View Details
- 2022
- Chapter
Immigration Policy Levers for U.S. Innovation and Startups
By: William R. Kerr and Sari Pekkala Kerr
Immigrants account for about a quarter of US invention and entrepreneurship despite a policy environment that is not well suited for these purposes. This chapter reviews the U.S. immigration policy environment that governs how skilled migrants move to America for... View Details
- March 2022
- Article
Winner Takes All? Tech Clusters, Population Centers, and the Spatial Transformation of U.S. Invention
By: Brad Chattergoon and William R. Kerr
U.S. invention has become increasingly concentrated around major tech centers since the 1970s, with implications for how much cities across the country share in concomitant local benefits. Is invention becoming a winner-takes-all race? We explore the rising spatial... View Details
- February 14, 2022
- Blog Post
Immigration Is the Key to Emerging Markets Becoming Innovation Hubs
By: Dany Bahar, Prithwiraj Choudhury and Sara Signorelli
- January 2022 (Revised March 2022)
- Case
Chinese Restriction, Violence, and Exclusion in the United States
By: Tom Nicholas, Boyang Han and Tomas Rosales
Many early Chinese immigrants to the United States during the 1850s worked as traditional gold miners, but as gold mining declined in significance, an increasing number were employed as laborers for large scale construction projects such as railroads, roadways, and in... View Details
Keywords: Immigration Acts; Immigration; Labor; Jobs and Positions; Race; Social Issues; Laws and Statutes
- 2022
- Working Paper
Talent Flows and the Geography of Knowledge Production: Causal Evidence from Multinational Firms
By: Dany Bahar, Prithwiraj Choudhury, Sara Signorelli and James M. Sappenfield
Leveraging a unique dataset merging patent data with all work-related migration reforms that took place in 15 countries over 26 years, we show that reforms discouraging inventor mobility decrease the patenting of MNE subsidiaries within a country, while reforms... View Details
- January 2022
- Teaching Plan
Just Arrived: Integrating Refugees in Sweden
By: Brian Trelstad and Emilie Billaud
Teaching Plan for HBS Case No. 321-040. Just Arrived is an online platform that matches newly-arrived immigrants in Sweden with employment opportunities. As one of several for-profit and non-profit start-ups in Europe that is looking to address the refugee crisis, the... View Details
- 2021
- Working Paper
Winner Takes All? Tech Clusters, Population Centers, and the Spatial Transformation of U.S. Invention
By: Brad Chattergoon and William R. Kerr
U.S. invention has become increasingly concentrated around major tech centers since the 1970s, with implications for how much cities across the country share in concomitant local benefits. Is invention becoming a winner-takes-all race? We explore the rising spatial... View Details
- 2021
- Chapter
The Economic and Political Effects of Immigration: Evidence from the Age of Mass Migration
By: Marco Tabellini
Between 1850 and 1920, during the Age of Mass Migration, more than 30 million Europeans moved to the United States. European immigrants provided ample supply of cheap labor as well as specific skills and know-how, contributing to American economic growth. These... View Details
- September 2021
- Teaching Note
Reforming the U.S. Immigration Regime: A Polarizing Issue in a Polarized Era
By: Marco Tabellini
- September 2021 (Revised February 2024)
- Teaching Note
Migrante: Using Tech to Provide Financial Inclusion to Immigrants
By: Boris Vallée and Mauricio Larrain
Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 221-108. View Details
- July 2021 (Revised October 2023)
- Case
K.C. Li: The Tungsten King
By: Geoffrey Jones and Casey Verkamp
This case examines the business career of Kuo-Ching Li, who was born in China in 1892, and built a successful minerals trading business called Wah Chang in the United States during the interwar years. He acquired a prominent role in tungsten, the strongest natural... View Details
- July 2021
- Case
Migrante: Using Tech to Provide Financial Inclusion to Immigrants
By: Boris Vallee and Mauricio Larrain
Keywords: Chile
- 2021
- Working Paper
Getting Schooled: The Role of Universities in Attracting Immigrant Entrepreneurs
By: Natee Amornsiripanitch, Paul A. Gompers, George Hu and Kaushik Vasudevan
Immigrant founders of venture capital-backed companies have been critical to the entrepreneurial ecosystem. We document the channels through which immigrant founders find their way to the United States and how those channels have changed over time. Immigrants have been... View Details