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The effects of immigration restrictions on innovation: lessons from the age of mass migration in the USA

Benjamin Cornejo-Costas & Andrea Morrison

Journal of Economic Geography2026https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbag014article
AJG 4ABDC A
Weight
0.50

Abstract

The circulation of talent is threatened by the backlash against immigration and the resulting tightening of immigration policies. In this paper, we focus on the impact of the Quota Act of 1921–4 in the USA on the patenting of US counties. Using a unique dataset of historical patents, we show that counties-technologies most affected by the policy experienced a sharp decline in patenting. Our results complement the existing evidence in three ways: (1) we show that the policy had a remarkable geographical dimension, (2) the decline was also strong for breakthroughs, and (3) we generalize previous work focusing on scientists.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbag014

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@article{benjamin2026,
  title        = {{The effects of immigration restrictions on innovation: lessons from the age of mass migration in the USA}},
  author       = {Benjamin Cornejo-Costas & Andrea Morrison},
  journal      = {Journal of Economic Geography},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbag014},
}

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The effects of immigration restrictions on innovation: lessons from the age of mass migration in the USA

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.