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Are Skilled Women More Migratory than Skilled Men?

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  • Docquier, Frédéric
  • Marfouk, Abdeslam
  • Salomone, Sara
  • Sekkat, Khalid

Abstract

This paper empirically studies emigration patterns of skilled males and females. In the most relevant model accounting for interdependencies between women and men’s decisions, we derive the gendered responses to traditional push factors. Females and males do not respond with the same intensity to the traditional determinants of labor mobility and gender-specific characteristics of the population at origin. In addition, female willingness to follow their spouse is more pronounced with respect to the male one, other things being equal. Once such interdependencies are accounted for, our analysis reveals that skilled women are not more internationally migratory than skilled men. We thus reject the existence of a genetic or social gender gap in international skilled migration.

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  • Docquier, Frédéric & Marfouk, Abdeslam & Salomone, Sara & Sekkat, Khalid, 2012. "Are Skilled Women More Migratory than Skilled Men?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 251-265.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:40:y:2012:i:2:p:251-265
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2011.05.004
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    2. Thierry Baudassé & Rémi Bazillier, 2014. "Gender inequality and emigration: Push factor or selection process?," International Economics, CEPII research center, issue 139, pages 19-47.
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    4. Edoardo Ferrucci & Francesco Lissoni & Ernest Miguelez, 2020. "Coming from afar and picking a man’s job:Women immigrant inventors in the United States," Working Papers hal-03098102, HAL.
    5. Frédéric Docquier & Hillel Rapoport, 2012. "Globalization, Brain Drain, and Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 50(3), pages 681-730, September.
    6. Lee, Taehoon & Peri, Giovanni & Viarengo, Martina, 2022. "The gender aspect of migrants’ assimilation in Europe," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    7. Schmid, Lena & Renner, Laura, 2020. "The Decision to Flee: Analyzing Gender-Specific Determinants of International Refugee Migration," VfS Annual Conference 2020 (Virtual Conference): Gender Economics 224596, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    8. Ruyssen, Ilse & Salomone, Sara, 2018. "Female migration: A way out of discrimination?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 224-241.
    9. Michel Beine & Sara Salomone, 2010. "Migration and Networks: Does Education Matter more than Gender?," CESifo Working Paper Series 3010, CESifo.
    10. Neumayer Eric & Plümper Thomas, 2021. "Women’s economic rights in developing countries and the gender gap in migration to Germany," IZA Journal of Development and Migration, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 12(1), pages 1-23, January.
    11. Raul Ramos, 2019. "Migration aspirations among youth in the Middle East and North Africa region," Journal of Geographical Systems, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 487-507, December.
    12. Chiara Falco, 2015. "Education and migration: empirical evidence from Ecuador," Working Papers 297, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised Mar 2015.
    13. Naghsh Nejad, Maryam, 2013. "Institutionalized Inequality and Brain Drain: An Empirical Study of the Effects of Women's Rights on the Gender Gap in High-Skilled Migration," IZA Discussion Papers 7864, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Manchin, Miriam & Orazbayev, Sultan, 2018. "Social networks and the intention to migrate," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 360-374.
    15. Chort, Isabelle, 2014. "Mexican Migrants to the US: What Do Unrealized Migration Intentions Tell Us About Gender Inequalities?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 535-552.
    16. Sandra Pellet & Marine de Talancé, 2021. "Is there a gender gap in health among migrants in Russia?," Erudite Working Paper 2021-11, Erudite.
    17. Maryam Naghsh Nejad & Andrew T. Young, 2014. "Female Brain Drains and Women's Rights Gaps : A Gravity Model Analysis of Bilateral Migration Flows," Working Papers 14-10, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    18. Debora Pricila Birgier & Christer Lundh & Yitchak Haberfeld & Erik Elldér, 2022. "Movers and Stayers: A Study of Emigration from Sweden 1993–2014," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 38(5), pages 1033-1064, December.
    19. Xu, Xu & Sylwester, Kevin, 2016. "The effects of foreign direct investment on emigration: The roles of FDI source country, education, and gender," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 401-409.
    20. Edo, Anthony & Toubal, Farid, 2017. "Immigration and the gender wage gap," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 196-214.
    21. Shakya, Shishir & Basnet, Subuna & Paudel, Jayash, 2022. "Natural disasters and labor migration: Evidence from Nepal’s earthquake," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    22. Xu Xu & Kevin Sylwester, 2016. "Environmental Quality and International Migration," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 69(1), pages 157-180, February.
    23. Thierry Baudassé & Rémi Bazillier, 2011. "Gender Discrimination and Emigration: Push Factor Versus Screening Process Hypothesis," Working Papers halshs-00829499, HAL.
    24. Elveren, Adem Yavuz & Toksöz, Gülay, 2017. "Why Don’t Highly Skilled Women Want to Return? Turkey’s Brain Drain from a Gender Perspective," MPRA Paper 80290, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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