GLOBAL CREDENTIALS, IMMIGRATION, AND METRO-REGIONAL ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE

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Abstract
This paper places urban regions, rather than nations or transnational firms (TNFs), at the center of global economic organization. Using the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex as an illustration, it explains the economic reach of a metro region in terms of the quality and diversity of local resources and global investments assembled there. Human capital flows in the form of foreign immigration are likewise viewed as integral to the global economic model. Their effects on the economic performances of the largest U.S. metro regions during the 1980s are analyzed. The findings suggest that although foreign immigration generally depressed both metro-regional growth and development during the decade, these effects were mediated by business-cycle shifts. Therefore, rather than being regarded as either an unalloyed boon or burden to an economy, foreign immigration effects are discovered to be complex and contingent on background economic circumstances.