Immigration and Trade Creation for the U.S.: The Role of Immigrant Occupation

30 Pages Posted: 22 Dec 2012

See all articles by Kusum Mundra

Kusum Mundra

Department of Economics, Rutgers University, Newark

Abstract

This paper highlights that the immigrants' effect on trade is not identical across all types of immigrants but it varies with the immigrants' occupation. Using a sample of 63 U.S. trading partners which are also big immigrant sending countries over the years 1991-2000, this paper finds that the immigrant trade elasticity for the no occupation group is similar in magnitude to the immigrant effect on trade estimated in the literature. However, this does not capture the full extent of the effect of immigrant network on trade. The share of professional immigrants in comparison to immigrants with no occupation significantly increases the trade elasticity for Rauch's referenced price and differentiated commodities and this effect is strongest for the differentiated goods. This paper establishes that immigrants' occupation is an important indicator of the quality and effectiveness of immigrants' network in trade creation with the home country.

Keywords: immigrant occupation, immigrant networks, bilateral trade, U.S.

JEL Classification: F22, F11, J10, J61

Suggested Citation

Mundra, Kusum, Immigration and Trade Creation for the U.S.: The Role of Immigrant Occupation. IZA Discussion Paper No. 7073, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2192769 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2192769

Kusum Mundra (Contact Author)

Department of Economics, Rutgers University, Newark ( email )

360 ML King Jr. Blvd.
Newark, NJ 07102
United States

HOME PAGE: http://kmundra.newark.rutgers.edu

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