"Foreign workers lead to better products, more trade, and more efficient global value"

(VOX EU March 26)'The positive aspects of immigration are frequently overlooked by the media and policymakers.' This column presents new evidence of how foreign workers can be beneficial for the host economy. The arrival of high-skilled European workers in Switzerland following the implementation of the Agreement on the Free Movement of People led Swiss firms to import higher quality intermediate products, upgrade the quality of exports, and export more. Conveying messages such as this to the general public and policymakers could increase the political feasibility of and support for positive migration policies.

Immigration is a controversial policy topic that receives mostly negative coverage from the media and politicians. However, there is a substantial literature in economics that provides evidence that immigrants can benefit native workers (e.g. Peri et al. 2014, 2015, Beerli et al. 2021), firm productivity (e.g. Kerr and Lincoln 2010a, 2010b, Ghosh et al. 2014, Hornug 2014, Mayda et al. 2018, Mitaritonna et al. 2018), FDI activity (Kugler and Rappoport 2007, Javorcik et al. 2011, Burchardi et al. 2019), innovation (e.g. Cristelli and Lissoni 2020, Gray et al. 2020, Mayda et al. 2022), and also international trade (e.g. Head and Rise 1998, Rauch 1999, 2001, Peri and Requena-Silvente 2010a, 2010b, Orefice et al. 2021, Bahar et al. 2022).

This column aims at reinforcing the message that immigration can provide economic benefits to host countries by presenting new evidence from my recent work (Ariu 2022), in which I show that the arrival of foreign workers is associated with higher-quality products, more trade, and more effective global value chains. Article in full: https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/foreign-workers-lead-better-products-more-trade-and-more-efficient-global-value