@article{67b6430ade014f06b57c5b1e6472fe66,
title = "Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your High-Skilled Labor: H-1B Lottery Outcomes and Entrepreneurial Success",
abstract = "We study how access to high-skill labor affects the outcomes of start-up firms. We obtain exogenous variation in firms{\textquoteright} ability to access skilled labor by using win rates in H-1B visa lotteries. Relative to other firms that also applied for H-1B visas, firms with higher lottery win rates are more likely to receive additional venture capital funding and to have a successful exit via an IPO or acquisition. H-1B visa lottery winners also subsequently receive more patents and patent citations. Overall, our results suggest that access to high-skill labor is a critical determinant of success for start-up firms.",
keywords = "H-1B visa, IPO, high-skill immigration, hiring constraints, immigration, innovation, patent, skilled labor, venture capital",
author = "Dimmock, {Stephen G.} and Jiekun Huang and Weisbenner, {Scott J.}",
note = "The authors thank Yunju Cha, Akshaya Muthu, Yu Sheng Loh, Phoon Ruei, and Chunxue Yang for excellent research assistance; and Steven Skiena and Junting Ye for providing access to NamePrism. For helpful comments, the authors thank Zachary Arnold, William Gerken, Britta Glennon, Sari Kerr, Kai Li, Gustavo Manso (editor), Tim McQuade, Neil Pearson, Johan Sulaeman, Kenneth Swinerton, Yufeng Wu, an anonymous associate editor, and the referee; seminar participants at Australia National University, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, and University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee; and participants at the American Economic Association, European Finance Association, Red Rock Finance, Singapore Symposium, and Western Finance Association conferences. All opinions expressed are those of the authors and not the National Bureau of Economic Research.",
year = "2022",
month = sep,
doi = "10.1287/mnsc.2021.4152",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "68",
pages = "6950--6970",
journal = "Management Science",
issn = "0025-1909",
publisher = "INFORMS Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences",
number = "9",
}