Only Human? Immigration and Firm Productivity in Britain
This paper estimates the impact of migration on productivity by estimating production functions for British firms. We find that much of the apparent higher productivity of migrants is the result of sorting across areas, industries, and firms. If we include firm fixed effects, the estimated productivity advantage of migrants over locals is not significantly different from zero. One possible interpretation of our results is that migrants and locals with similar skills are equally productive; there is nothing distinctive about migrants. However, since productivity estimates are imprecise after controlling for firm fixed effects, we also can’t reject the hypothesis that migrants and locals differ in their productivity.
Date: 21 January 2025, 16:00
Venue: Manor Road Building, Manor Road OX1 3UQ
Venue Details: Seminar Room A
Speaker: Alan Manning (London School of Economics)
Organising department: Department of Economics
Part of: Applied Microeconomics Seminar
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Members of the University only
Editor: Edward Clark