Economics of Migration of Students from the Arab Region to OECD countries

Economic studies on migration of skilled labor are mainly related to those trained in the country of origin but are increasingly including students trained abroad that return or not to their home countries. There are incentives and constraints that are provided by both origin and destination countries but the living conditions and the expected relative wages appear to be the most important sources of attraction of students to migrate. The restrictions of access to some schools such as those of medical sciences and architecture could be also driving further migration. The internationalization of the education system and the delocalization of universities in relation to globalization and trade in services are also encouraging these movements. These directions are likely to be expanded under the high levels of unemployment and the expected low local wages. This paper expands early models of skilled labor migration to account for students. Empirical investigations based on Arab countries are pursued. They show clearly the importance of this movement and its determination mainly by the differences in relative expected wages and the anticipated living conditions.