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The paper uses the H1B lottery process as the randomization so there's no selection bias. All the companies studied applied for H1B employees, just some got app
by shalmanese 5y ago
The paper uses the H1B lottery process as the randomization so there's no selection bias. All the companies studied applied for H1B employees, just some got approval and others got rejected at random by the lottery.
> In our sample of VC-backed startups, we observe that winning more H-1B visa lotteries
enhances startup performance. Specifically, a one-standard-deviation increase in the likelihood of
winning an H-1B visa lottery increases the number of VC financing rounds in the three years after
the lottery by 7.1%, the number of patents filed by 6.2%, the number of claims per patent by 9.7%,
and the likelihood of an IPO by 8.8%.
- marcinzm 5y agoI'm guessing they accounted for applicants with advanced degrees who have a separate cap or did that not exist during the time of the study?
- orange_joe 5y agogood point, I didn't see that, so its still better than I expected. That being said, The Lottery isn't truly random. Hiring a Master's Degree holder(higher salary than the bachelors student), applying multiple years (Company longevity usually means better financials) and filling out the forms with correctly with a skilled immigration team (again, more financial requirements) all improve the odds. So you're definitely right that the selection bias isn't as bad as I originally thought, but it still seems to be present.