Birthplace diversity of immigrants and technological novelty: Unpacking the internal structure of diversity

Abstract

In an increasingly globalized world, understanding how the birthplace diversity of international immigrants influences innovation in destination countries is of growing significance. Although previous studies have explored the innovation implications of migration, the internal structure of diversity, particularly the distinction between related and unrelated birthplace diversity, has been largely overlooked. This paper investigates the impact of skilled immigrants' birthplace diversity on national-level technological novelty by integrating data from the ADOP and OECD REGPAT databases. Our findings reveal that countries with higher birthplace diversity among skilled immigrants tend to produce more novel innovations; a result that remains robust across a series of robustness tests. Further, analysis of international collaboration networks among immigrants' origin countries indicates that unrelated birthplace diversity serves as the main contributor to this positive effect. By unpacking the internal structure of birthplace diversity, this paper reconciles previously mixed findings and offers new insights into the mechanisms linking international migration and technological novelty.