Publications
Publications
- 2018
- HBS Working Paper Series
Intellectual Baggage of Ethnic Migrant Inventors: Transfer and Recombination of Knowledge Across Borders
Abstract
Ethnic migrant inventors might differ from locals in terms of knowledge they bring to host firms. We study the role of first-generation ethnic migrant inventors in cross-border transfer of knowledge previously locked within the cultural context of their home regions. Using a unique dataset of Chinese and Indian herbal patents filed in the United States, we find that an increase in the supply of first-generation ethnic migrant inventors increases the rate of codification of herbal knowledge at U.S. assignees. Our identification comes from an exogenous shock to the quota of H1B visas and from a list of entities exempted from the shock. We also find that ethnic migrant inventors are more likely to engage in reuse of their prior knowledge, whereas inventors from other ethnic backgrounds are more likely to engage in knowledge recombination.
Keywords
Skilled Migration; Ethnic Migration; First-generation Migrant; Cultural Context; Knowledge Flows; Knowledge Reuse; Knowledge Recombination; Recombinant Creation; H1B Visas; Knowledge Sharing; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Knowledge Dissemination; Immigration; Ethnicity
Citation
Choudhury, Prithwiraj. "Intellectual Baggage of Ethnic Migrant Inventors: Transfer and Recombination of Knowledge Across Borders." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 17-069, January 2017. (Revised January 2018.)
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