On the nexus between innovation, productivity and migration of US university graduates

This paper studies the link between the migration of US university graduates, innovation and productivity. Using migration flows extracted from the SESTAT database and following a simultaneous equation approach, it finds that there is a positive and statistically significant relationship between the migration flows of skilled economic agents and innovation (and productivity). Higher taxation and housing prices act as a decelerating force to migration. The role of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) graduates, potential investors and entrepreneurial education appear to play a salient role in regional innovation. The results are robust to various implementations, including the use of the instrumental variables approach.