Immigrants and Innovation in the United States
- jeanne7629
- Sep 22, 2025
- 1 min read
I hesitated to share this one because it's a little nerdy… Basically 2 scholars discussing a research paper, but I found it interesting so here you go! The piece of research was led by Stanford economist Rebecca Diamond, and the main finding was that immigrants contribute roughly 25% of the economic value generated by U.S. patents. AND that figure rises to over a third when accounting for the productivity “spillovers” they create when collaborating with U.S.-born inventors. I particularly appreciated how thoroughly this piece of research was led (the interviewer really drills down and asks tough questions but Diamond has an answer for most of them) I also loved how Diamond resisted drawing sweeping conclusions even when the evidence seemed pretty compelling.
It was intersting to hear this in the context of today’s wider immigration debates in the US and in Australia.
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