Immigration and Economic Growth in Metropolitan Areas

Abstract

This research answers the question whether immigration contributes to metropolitan areas' productivity and economic growth, and it also quantifies the impacts of immigration on productivity and economic growth. It examines the relationships between metropolitan Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the measures of immigration in the United States from 2000-2010 and attempts to find evidence in three mechanisms through which immigration can contribute to the economic growth: the overall effects, the skill effects and the complementarity effects. In each effect' analysis, this research uses reduced- and structural-form equations and uses fixed-effects and first-difference models.