The Effects of High-Skilled Immigration Policy on Firms: Evidence from Visa Lotteries

67 Pages Posted: 10 Nov 2014 Last revised: 23 Jun 2023

See all articles by Kirk Doran

Kirk Doran

University of Notre Dame

Alexander M. Gelber

Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania; National Bureau of Economic Research

Alexander Gelber

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); University of California, Berkeley

Adam Isen

U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Tax Analysis (OTA)

Date Written: November 2014

Abstract

We compare winning and losing firms in lotteries for H-1B visas, matching administrative data on these lotteries to administrative tax data on U.S. firms and to approved U.S. patents. Winning one additional H-1B visa crowds out about 1.5 other workers at the firm. Additional H-1Bs have insignificant and at most modest effects on firm innovation. More general evidence from the universe of U.S. firms and the universe of H-1B visas using alternative estimation strategies is consistent with these results. Firms that hire H-1Bs grow faster and innovate more because they are different in other ways from firms that do not.

Suggested Citation

Doran, Kirk and Gelber, Alexander M. and Gelber, Alexander and Gelber, Alexander and Isen, Adam, The Effects of High-Skilled Immigration Policy on Firms: Evidence from Visa Lotteries (November 2014). NBER Working Paper No. w20668, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2521426

Kirk Doran (Contact Author)

University of Notre Dame ( email )

361 Mendoza College of Business
Notre Dame, IN 46556-5646
United States

Alexander M. Gelber

Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania ( email )

1403 Steinberg-Dietrich Hall
3620 Locust Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6372
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.nber.org/~agelber

National Bureau of Economic Research ( email )

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Alexander Gelber

University of California, Berkeley ( email )

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

Adam Isen

U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Tax Analysis (OTA) ( email )

1500 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Washington, DC 22203
United States

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