IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/drm/wpaper/2013-26.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The determinants of international mobility of students

Author

Listed:
  • Michel Beine
  • Romain Noël
  • Lionel Ragot

Abstract

This paper analyzes the determinants of the choice of location of international students. Building on the documented trends in international migration of students, we develop a small theoretical model allowing to identify the various factors associated to the attraction of migrants as well as the costs of moving abroad. Using new data capturing the number of students from a large set of origin countries studying in a set of 13 OECD countries, weassess the importance of the various factors identified in the theory. We find support for a significant network effect in the migration of students, a result so far undocumented in the literature. We also find a significant role for cost factors such as housing prices and for attractiveness variables such as the reported quality of universities. In contrast, we do not find an important role for registration fees.

Suggested Citation

  • Michel Beine & Romain Noël & Lionel Ragot, 2013. "The determinants of international mobility of students," EconomiX Working Papers 2013-26, University of Paris Nanterre, EconomiX.
    • Handle: RePEc:drm:wpaper:2013-26
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://economix.fr/pdf/dt/2013/WP_EcoX_2013-26.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Antonio Spilimbergo, 2009. "Democracy and Foreign Education," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(1), pages 528-543, March.
    2. Michel Beine & Fréderic Docquier & Hillel Rapoport, 2008. "Brain Drain and Human Capital Formation in Developing Countries: Winners and Losers," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(528), pages 631-652, April.
    3. James E. Anderson & Eric van Wincoop, 2004. "Trade Costs," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 42(3), pages 691-751, September.
    4. Charles F. Manski, 1993. "Identification of Endogenous Social Effects: The Reflection Problem," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 60(3), pages 531-542.
    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. Beine, Michel & Noël, Romain & Ragot, Lionel, 2014. "Determinants of the international mobility of students," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 40-54.
    7. Edward Baryla & Douglas Dotterweich, 2001. "Student Migration: Do Significant Factors Vary by Region?," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(3), pages 269-280.
    8. Alexander Haupt & Tim Krieger & Thomas Lange, 2010. "A Note on Brain Gain and Brain Drain: Permanent Migration and Education Policy," Working Papers CIE 27, Paderborn University, CIE Center for International Economics.
    9. Franklin G. Mixon, 1992. "A Public Choice Note on College Student Migration," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 13(3), pages 63-68, March.
    10. George J. Borjas, 2004. "Do Foreign Students Crowd Out Native Students from Graduate Programs?," NBER Working Papers 10349, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Dreher, Axel & Poutvaara, Panu, 2005. "Student Flows and Migration: An Empirical Analysis," IZA Discussion Papers 1612, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Axel Dreher & Panu Poutvaara, 2005. "Student Flows and Migration: An Empirical Analysis�," TWI Research Paper Series 8, Thurgauer Wirtschaftsinstitut, Universität Konstanz.
    13. Gary S. Becker, 1964. "Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to Education, First Edition," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number beck-5.
    14. Laura Thissen & Sjef Ederveen, 2006. "Higher education; time for coordination on a European level?," CPB Discussion Paper 68, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    15. George Psacharopoulos & Harry Anthony Patrinos, 2004. "Returns to investment in education: a further update," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(2), pages 111-134.
    16. Chiswick, Barry R, 1978. "The Effect of Americanization on the Earnings of Foreign-born Men," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 86(5), pages 897-921, October.
    17. Carla Sa & Raymond Florax & Piet Rietveld, 2004. "Determinants of the Regional Demand for Higher Education in The Netherlands: A Gravity Model Approach," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(4), pages 375-392.
    18. Tenreyro, Silvana, 2007. "On the trade impact of nominal exchange rate volatility," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(2), pages 485-508, March.
    19. Card, David & Krueger, Alan B, 1992. "Does School Quality Matter? Returns to Education and the Characteristics of Public Schools in the United States," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(1), pages 1-40, February.
    20. Donata Bessey, 2012. "International student migration to Germany," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 345-361, February.
    21. Bratsberg, Bernt, 1995. "The incidence of non-return among foreign students in the United States," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 14(4), pages 373-384, December.
    22. Nahid Aslanbeigui & Veronica Montecinos, 1998. "Foreign Students in U.S. Doctoral Programs," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(3), pages 171-182, Summer.
    23. David McKenzie & Hillel Rapoport, 2011. "Can migration reduce educational attainment? Evidence from Mexico," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 24(4), pages 1331-1358, October.
    24. Mixon, Franklin Jr & Hsing, Yu, 1994. "The determinants of out-of-state enrollments in higher education: A tobit analysis," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 329-335.
    25. Jerik Hanushek & Dennis Kimko, 2006. "Schooling, Labor-force Quality, and the Growth of Nations," Voprosy obrazovaniya / Educational Studies Moscow, National Research University Higher School of Economics, issue 1, pages 154-193.
    26. Veugelers, Reinhilde & Van Bouwel, Linda, 2010. "Does university quality drive international student flows?," CEPR Discussion Papers 7657, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    27. Franklin G. Mixon, 1992. "Factors Affecting College Student Migration across States," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 13(1), pages 25-32, January.
    28. Daniel Felsenstein & Ronald McQuaid & Philip McCann & Daniel Shefer (ed.), 2001. "Public Investment and Regional Economic Development," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2440.
    29. Grogger, Jeffrey & Hanson, Gordon H., 2011. "Income maximization and the selection and sorting of international migrants," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(1), pages 42-57, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Michel Beine & Marco Delogu & Lionel Ragot, 2020. "The role of fees in foreign education: evidence from Italy [Determinants of international student migration]," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 20(2), pages 571-600.
    2. Michel Beine & Marco Delogu & Lionel Ragot, 2017. "Understanding the Impact of Tuition Fees in Foreign Education: the Case of the UK," Working Papers hal-04141620, HAL.
    3. Michel Beine & Marco Delogu & Lionel Ragot, 2017. "The Role of Fees in Foreign Education: Evidence From Italy and the United Kingdom," Working Papers 2017-04, CEPII research center.
    4. Mariele Macaluso, 2022. "The influence of skill-based policies on the immigrant selection process," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 39(2), pages 595-621, July.
    5. Malik Fahim Bashir & Changsheng Xu & Khalid Zaman & Ghulam Akhmat, 2014. "Key Factors Determining the Rationale for Brain Drain: An Irony Never Recovered," International Journal of Economics and Empirical Research (IJEER), The Economics and Social Development Organization (TESDO), vol. 2(8), pages 308-320, August.
    6. Elise S. Brezis, 2016. "Why Migrate: For Study or for Work?," Economies, MDPI, vol. 4(3), pages 1-12, August.
    7. Björn NILSSON, 2019. "Education and migration: insights for policymakers," Working Paper 23ca9c54-061a-4d60-967c-f, Agence française de développement.
    8. Mabel Sanchez-Barrioluengo & Sara Flisi, 2017. "Student Mobility in Tertiary Education: institutional factors and regional attractiveness," JRC Research Reports JRC108895, Joint Research Centre.
    9. Brezis Elise S., 2019. "Should individuals migrate before acquiring education or after? A new model of Brain Waste vs. Brain Drain," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 19(2), pages 1-11, June.
    10. Romuald Méango, 2014. "International Student Migration: A Partial Identification Analysis," CESifo Working Paper Series 4677, CESifo.
    11. Katrin Oesingmann, 2016. "ifo Migrationsmonitor: Die Zuwanderung von ausländischen Studierenden nach Deutschland – ein wichtiger Faktor für die Gewinnung von Fachkräften," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 69(20), pages 51-55, October.
    12. Govert E. Bijwaard & Qi Wang, 2016. "Return Migration of Foreign Students," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 32(1), pages 31-54, February.
    13. Elise S. Brezis, 2018. "Is Brain Drain passé? The Optimal Timing of Migration," Working Papers 2018-02, Bar-Ilan University, Department of Economics.
    14. Hatton, Timothy J., 2014. "The economics of international migration: A short history of the debate," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 43-50.
    15. Catia Batista & David Costa & Pedro Freitas & Goncalo Lima & Ana Reis, 2024. "What Matters for the Decision to Study Abroad? A Lab-in-the-Field Experiment in Cape Verde," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 2413, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).
    16. Simone Bertoli & Hillel Rapoport, 2015. "Heaven's Swing Door: Endogenous Skills, Migration Networks, and the Effectiveness of Quality-Selective Immigration Policies," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 117(2), pages 565-591, April.
    17. Frédéric Docquier & Hillel Rapoport, 2012. "Globalization, Brain Drain, and Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 50(3), pages 681-730, September.
    18. Narcisse Cha'Ngom & Christoph Deuster & Frédéric Docquier & Joël Machado, 2023. "Selective Migration and Economic Development: A Generalized Approach," LISER Working Paper Series 2023-06, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER).
    19. Vasilakis, Chrysovalantis, 2013. "Globalized Market for Talents and Inequality: What Can Be Learnt from European Football?," Economic Research Papers 270425, University of Warwick - Department of Economics.
    20. Satti Osman Mohamed Nour, Samia, 2019. "Migration of higher education students from North Africa Region," MERIT Working Papers 2019-010, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Student mobility; network effect; migration costs; higher education policy.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:drm:wpaper:2013-26. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Valerie Mignon (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/modemfr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.