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Remittances and the Brain Drain: Skilled Migrants Do Remit Less

Author

Listed:
  • Yoko Niimi
  • Caglar Ozden
  • Maurice Schiff

Abstract

It has been argued that the adverse impact of skilled versus unskilled labor migration can be mitigated or even offset by the fact that skilled migrants remit more than unskilled ones. This paper contributes to the much debated and so far unresolved related issue, namely whether remittances actually increase with migrants' level of education. The determinants of remittances considered include migration levels and rates, migrants' education level, and source countries' income, financial sector development and expected growth rate. The estimation accounts for potential endogeneity, an issue not considered in the few existing studies on this topic. Our main finding is that remittances decrease with the share of migrants with tertiary education. This provides an additional reason for which source countries would prefer unskilled to skilled labor migration. Moreover, as predicted by our model, remittances increase with source countries' level and rate of migration, financial sector development and population, and decrease with their per capita income and expected growth rate.

Suggested Citation

  • Yoko Niimi & Caglar Ozden & Maurice Schiff, 2010. "Remittances and the Brain Drain: Skilled Migrants Do Remit Less," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 97-98, pages 123-141.
    • Handle: RePEc:adr:anecst:y:2010:i:97-98:p:123-141
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    File URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41219112
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ça?lar Özden & Maurice Schiff, 2006. "International Migration, Remittances, and the Brain Drain," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6929, December.
    2. Nadeem U. Haque & Se-Jik Kim, 1995. "“Human Capital Flight”: Impact of Migration on Income and Growth," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 42(3), pages 577-607, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • F24 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Remittances
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • O16 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance

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