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Return Migration as Channel of Brain Gain

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  • Karin Mayr

    () (Johannes Kepler University, Linz)

  • Giovanni Peri

    () (UC Davis and NBER)

Abstract

Recent theoretical and empirical studies have emphasized the fact that the prospect of international migration increases the expected returns to skills in poor countries, linking the possibility of migrating (brain drain) with incentives to higher education (brain gain). If emigration is uncertain and some of the highly educated remain, such a channel may, at least in part, counterbalance the negative effects of brain drain. Moreover, recent empirical evidence seems to show that temporary migration is widespread among highly skilled migrants (such as Eastern Europeans in Western Europe and Asians in the U.S.). This paper develops a simple tractable overlapping generations model that provides an economic rationale for return migration and which predicts who will migrate and who will return among agents with heterogeneous abilities. We use parameter values from the literature and the data on return migration to calibrate our model and simulate and quantify the effects of increased openness on human capital and wages of the sending countries. We find that, for plausible values of the parameters, the return migration channel is very important and combined with the incentive channel reverses the brain drain into significant brain gain for the sending country.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM), Department of Economics, University College London in its series CReAM Discussion Paper Series with number 0804.

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Date of creation: Apr 2008
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Handle: RePEc:crm:wpaper:0804

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Keywords: Skilled Migration; Return Migration; Returns to Education;

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References

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  1. Bhagwati, Jagdish & Rodriguez, Carlos, 1975. "Welfare-theoretical analyses of the brain drain," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 195-221, September.
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  5. Schiff, Maurice, 2005. "Brain gain : claims about its size and impact on welfare and growth are greatly exaggerated," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3708, The World Bank.
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  10. Christian Dustmann & Yoram Weiss, 2007. "Return Migration: Theory and Empirical Evidence from the UK," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 45(2), pages 236-256, 06.
  11. Barro, Robert J & Lee, Jong-Wha, 2001. "International Data on Educational Attainment: Updates and Implications," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 53(3), pages 541-63, July.
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Citations

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Cited by:
  1. Brunilda Zenelaga & Kseanela Sotirofski, 2011. "The `Brain Gain Hypotheses` of Transition Countries Elites and Socioeconomic Development in Their Home Country (Albanian Emigrants in Italy Sample)," Working Papers 46, AlmaLaurea Inter-University Consortium.
  2. Alireza Naghavi & Chiara Strozzi, 2011. "Intellectual Property Rights, Migration, and Diaspora," Center for Economic Research (RECent) 068, University of Modena and Reggio E., Dept. of Economics.
  3. Christian Dustmann & Albrecht Glitz & Thorsten Vogel, 2006. "Employment, Wages, and the Economic Cycle: Differences between Immigrants and Natives," CReAM Discussion Paper Series 0609, Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM), Department of Economics, University College London.
  4. Simona Monteleone, 2011. "Brain Drain and Economic Growth: A Critical Review," QA - Rivista dell'Associazione Rossi-Doria, Associazione Rossi Doria, issue 1, March.
  5. Monteleone, Simona & Torrisi, Benedetto, 2010. "A Micro Data Analisys Of Italy’s Brain Drain," MPRA Paper 20995, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  6. Ha, Wei & Yi, Junjian & Zhang, Junsen, 2009. "Brain Drain, Brain Gain, and Economic Growth in China," MPRA Paper 19221, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  7. Renata Ivanova & Byeongju Jeong, 2011. "Why Don't Migrants with Secondary Education Return?," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp449, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economic Institute, Prague.
  8. Christian Dustmann & Itzhak Fadlon & Yoram Weiss, 2010. "Return Migration, Human Capital Accumulation and the Brain Drain," CReAM Discussion Paper Series 1013, Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM), Department of Economics, University College London.
  9. Sabharwal, Meghna, 2011. "Job satisfaction patterns of scientists and engineers by status of birth," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 853-863, July.
  10. Nifo, Annamaria & Pagnotta, Stefano & Scalera, Domenico, 2011. "The best and brightest. Selezione positiva e brain drain nelle migrazioni interne italiane
    [The best and brightest. Positive selection and brain drain in Italian internal migrations]    ," MPRA Paper 34506, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  11. Simona Monteleone & Benedetto Torrisi, 2010. "A micro data analysis of Italy’s brain drain," Discussion Papers 4_2010, D.E.S. (Department of Economic Studies), University of Naples "Parthenope", Italy.
  12. Daniela Federici & Marilena Giannetti, 2010. "Temporary Migration and Foreign Direct Investment," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 293-308, April.
  13. Garcia, Pablo M & Rodriguez-Montemayor, Eduardo, 2010. "A primer of international migration: The Latin American experience and a proposal for a research agenda," MPRA Paper 24147, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  14. Eduardo Rodríguez-Montemayor & Pablo M. García, 2009. "A Primer of International Migration: The Latin American Experience," IDB Publications 9327, Inter-American Development Bank.
  15. Simona Monteleone, 2009. "Brain drain e crescita economica: Una rassegna critica sugli effetti prodotti," Working Papers 2_2009, D.E.S. (Department of Economic Studies), University of Naples "Parthenope", Italy.

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