This study investigates the effect of high-skilled inventor emigration rate on growth rate of the country of origin (COO). Inventor emigrants represent the human capital that can generate highly innovative work. The social network they form spurs knowledge diffusion and technology transfer back to their COOs, which in turn affects innovation and growth in their home countries. We run dynamic panel estimation for 154 countries during 1990–2011, and empirically show that a positive and statistically significant effect exists for the interaction of inventor emigration and trade. The result indicates that the direct negative impact of the brain drain can be mitigated by the positive feedback effect generated by the high-skilled inventor emigrants abroad. When coupled with an active trade policy that reinforces growth, countries can partially recoup the direct effect of the human capital loss. We stress the importance of international trade for successful technology transfer to occur, and offer insights for policies that can utilize the benefits of the rich social network of their high-skilled emigrants.

中文翻译：

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高技能发明人移民作为发送国增加创新和增长的主持人

这项研究调查了高技能发明人的移民率对原籍国（COO）增长率的影响。发明家移民代表了可以产生高度创新工作的人力资本。他们形成的社交网络促使知识传播和技术转移回其首席运营官，这反过来又影响了本国的创新和增长。我们在1990-2011年间对154个国家/地区进行了动态面板估算，并通过经验表明，发明人移民与贸易之间的相互作用具有积极的和统计学上的显着影响。结果表明，国外高技能发明家移民所产生的正反馈效应可以减轻人才外流的直接负面影响。结合积极的贸易政策以促进增长，国家可以部分弥补人力资本流失的直接影响。我们强调国际贸易对于成功进行技术转让的重要性，并为可以利用其高技能移民的丰富社会网络的利益的政策提供见解。