Publications

The global race for talent is on, with countries and businesses competing for the best and brightest. Foreign talent has transformed U.S. science and engineering, reshaped the economy, and influenced society at large. But America is bogged down in thorny debates on... View Details

Keywords: Immigration; Policy; Labor; Economy; Talent and Talent Management; United States

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March 2013
Teaching Note

Start-Up Chile: April 2012 (TN)

February 2013
Teaching Note

EverTrue: Mobile Technology Development (TN) (A) and (B)

30 Nov 2007
Conference Presentation

The Ethnic Composition of US Inventors: Evidence Building from Ethnic Names in US Patents

Keywords: Ethnicity; Innovation and Invention; Patents; United States

2008
Working Paper

The Agglomeration of U.S. Ethnic Inventors

The ethnic composition of US inventors is undergoing a significant transformation—with deep impacts for the overall agglomeration of US innovation. This study applies an ethnic-name database to individual US patent records to explore these trends with greater detail.... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Geographic Location; Patents; Ethnicity; City; Innovation and Invention; United States

SSRN

01 Dec 2022
News

Turning Point: Soul Cycle

Karyn Kerr Pettigrew (MBA 1990) (Illustration by Gisela Goppel) Karyn Kerr Pettigrew (MBA 1990) (Illustration by Gisela Goppel) We all have... View Details

Keywords: transitions; life experience; career change; entrepreneurship

01 Dec 2013
News

Innovation as Antidote

inspiration typically comes from a very human place. DART Therapeutics CEO Gene Williams (MBA 1987) ("Your Own Medicine"), for instance, told us about a revelation he had during a 2002 trip to Rotterdam to observe clinical trials for the... View Details

Keywords: Health, Social Assistance

July–August 2025
Article

Case Study: Do We Reskill or Replace Our Workforce?

By: William Kerr

To remain competitive in the internet-of-things era, should the CEO of SolidTech Innovations, a fictional elevator company, invest a lot of money in reskilling its entire staff? The industry is moving from hardware to software in the form of smart, connected elevators.... View Details

Keywords: Training; Competency and Skills; Employees; Change Management; Leading Change

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25 Mar 2025
News

Migrant Talent Is Worth Much to America’s Economic Future

12 Dec 2024
News

Six Lessons from Companies That Shut Down Their Business in Russia

13 Feb 2020
News

How Partisanship Is Destroying America’s Competitiveness

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

Keywords: High-tech; H1-B; Immigration; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Business Startups; Venture Capital

17 Jul 2012
First Look

First Look: July 17

identified and classified in terms of specifying, allocating, and utilizing capacity. The first two categories reflect challenges faced by infrastructure providers; the last category, challenges faced by... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2020
Article

Immigrant Entrepreneurship in America: Evidence from the Survey of Business Owners 2007 & 2012

By: Sari Pekkala Kerr and William R. Kerr

We study immigrant entrepreneurship in 2007 and 2012 using the Survey of Business Owners. First-generation immigrants create about 25% of new firms in America, but this share exceeds 40% in some states. Immigrant-owned firms tend to create fewer jobs than native-owned... View Details

Keywords: Job Creation; Employee Benefits; Owner Demographics; Exports; Outsourcing; Immigration; Entrepreneurship; Ownership; Demographics; Jobs and Positions; Compensation and Benefits; United States

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October 3, 2016
Article

Immigrants Play a Disproportionate Role in American Entrepreneurship

By: Sari Pekkala Kerr and William R. Kerr

This article summarizes recent research on how immigrants contribute to the formation of U.S. start-ups and the traits of the businesses founded. View Details

Keywords: Networks; Demographics; Entrepreneurship

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2008
Working Paper

Economic Impacts of Immigration: A Survey

By: Sari Pekkala Kerr and William R. Kerr

This paper surveys recent empirical studies on the economic impacts of immigration. The survey first examines the magnitude of immigration as an economic phenomenon in various host countries. The second part deals with the assimilation of immigrant workers into... View Details

Keywords: Economics; Public Sector; Immigration; Labor; Europe; Scandinavia

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