Does Automation Drive Talent Flows? A Global Perspective on Robot Adoption and Immigration

• In Event: International Migration Section Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): 12. Highly skilled / white collar migration

Abstract

Robotization is a major technological advancement that plays a key role in transforming industries and society. Meanwhile, recruiting highly educated migrants has been a central policy for many countries striving to maintain a high-quality labor force. However, the relationship between these two major societal trends is surprisingly underexplored in existing research. This research gap is particularly significant because robot adoption varies substantially across countries and regions, meaning that the findings have important implications for global development. Leveraging this cross-national variation, this study provides a global assessment of whether the level of robotization in destination countries is associated with bilateral stocks of highly educated immigrants. We combine data on industrial robots from the International Federation of Robotics with bilateral migration data from the World Bank, along with additional country-level covariates. Using gravity models estimated via Poisson pseudo-maximum likelihood (PPML) with fixed effects, preliminary results indicate that higher levels of robotization in destination countries are positively associated with larger stocks of highly educated immigrants. Regional analyses further reveal heterogeneity in this relationship. The positive association is particularly pronounced in East Asia and the Pacific. By linking robotization to bilateral high-skilled immigrant stocks worldwide, this study is among the first to examine highly educated international migration in the context of increasing automation. It also highlights important regional differences in how robotization relates to high-skilled mobility.

Authors

• Chunxue Zhang, The University of Hong Kong

• Eric Fong, University of Hong Kong