Figure 1. Migration indicators of European countries in 2020 The study does not discuss the distributional effects of skilled migrant entrepreneurship, but we can
outline some issues here. One important point is whether new migrant firms join existing firms or not.
As migrants discover new opportunities, the net effect may be additive; however, to the extent that new
opportunities are also disruptive, complementarity is limited. More broadly, the entry process can
increase consumer welfare if entrants induce stronger incumbents to innovate and weaker firms to exit.
However, this leads to welfare losses for the owners and employees of the domestic firms that are left
behind.
Skilled migrants can play a number of investment-related roles, both at the level of individual firms and
in terms of higher levels of trade and direct investment. However, while trade and FDI mechanisms are
relatively well covered in the literature, channels at the individual level are rarely discussed.
Migrants who are high-income individuals and enter the host economy as investors should ease capital
constraints for local firms. Relatedly, investments can lead to knowledge spillovers between investors
and recipients: skilled investors with industry-specific expertise can also influence recipient firms'
innovation and productivity.
CONCLUSION Over time, migration can change the level and pattern of trade and foreign direct investment flows
between host and domestic countries. Imperfect information creates trade conflicts: migrants improve
international market knowledge, which leads to better matching of buyers and sellers. Diasporic/ethnic
networks also increase trust by providing effective means of contract management and enforcement.
Along with these "information channels", migrants also create a "preference channel" by demanding
goods from their home country. The size of trade effects with a particular sending country depends in
part on the size of the migrant community in the receiving country. Skilled migrants can also play an
important role in these channels: skilled migrants can have good knowledge of business opportunities,
good social capital and professional networks. As with trade flows and foreign direct investment flows,
skilled migrants can provide local investors with additional information about "home" market
investment opportunities that reduce transaction costs. Thus, skilled migration helps reduce home
ownership. Similarly, skilled expatriates can provide matching and intermediary functions that help
multinational firms develop and manage overseas investments.