Foreign human capital, cultural diversity and urban innovation in China

Abstract

From the perspective of cross regional flow of human capital, this paper studies the impact and mechanism of foreign human capital on urban innovation in China, and reveals the innovation effect of foreign human capital. The theoretical research shows that the efficient allocation of innovation elements brought by foreign human capital and the diversified externalities associated with it are the source for cities to maintain innovation vitality and competitiveness. The empirical study matching the individual micro data of Chinese census with the urban patent data found that foreign human capital has a significant role in promoting urban innovation, especially in the innovation of invention patents with the highest technological content. Further research on the mechanism reveals that the externality of cultural diversity brought by foreign human capital is an important channel to promote urban innovation. Therefore, the absorption and integration of foreign labor is the key to the city full of innovation and vitality.