Attracting Talent: Location Choices of Foreign-Born PhDs in the United States

We analyze location choices of foreign-born science and engineering students receiving PhDs from US universities. Foreign students who stay in the United States are positively selected on observables. They tend to stay in the United States during periods of strong US economic growth and during periods of weak home country economic growth. Foreign students from higher-income countries and from recently democratized countries tend not to remain in the United States. Education and innovation may therefore be part of a virtuous cycle by which education enhances a country's prospects for innovation and innovation makes the country more attractive for scientists and engineers.