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Brain Drain, Brain Gain and Economic Growth in China

Author

Listed:
  • Wei Ha

    (Policy Specialist at the Human Development Report Office, UNDP)

  • Junjian Yi

    (Economics Department of the Chinese University of Hong Kong)

  • Junsen Zhang

    (Economics Department of the Chinese University of Hong Kong)

Abstract

This paper examines the effects of both permanent and temporary emigration on human capital formation and economic growth of the source regions. To achieve this end, this paper explores the Chinese provincial panel data from 1980 to 2005. First, the fixed effects model is employed to estimate the effect of emigration on school enrollment rates in the source regions. Relative to this aspect, we find that the magnitude (scale) of permanent emigrants (measured by the permanent emigration ratio) is conducive to the improvement of both middle and high schools enrollments. In contrast, the magnitude of temporary emigrants has a significantly positive effect on middle school enrollment but does not have a significant effect on high school enrollment. More interestingly, different educational attainments of temporary emigrants have different effects on school enrollment. Specifically, the share of temporary emigrants with high school education positively affects middle school enrollment, while the share of temporary emigrants with middle school education negatively affects high school enrollment. Second, the instrumental variable method is applied to estimate the effect of emigration on economic growth within the framework of system Generalized Method of Moments (GMM). The estimation results suggest that both permanent and temporary emigrations have a detrimental effect on the economic growth of the source regions. Our empirical tests provide some new evidence to the "brain drain" debate, which has recently received increasing attention.

Suggested Citation

  • Wei Ha & Junjian Yi & Junsen Zhang, 2009. "Brain Drain, Brain Gain and Economic Growth in China," Human Development Research Papers (2009 to present) HDRP-2009-37, Human Development Report Office (HDRO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), revised Aug 2009.
    • Handle: RePEc:hdr:papers:hdrp-2009-37
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    Cited by:

    1. Marco Delogu & Frédéric Docquier & Joël Machado, 2018. "Globalizing labor and the world economy: the role of human capital," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 223-258, June.
    2. Qinwei Cao & Qiaoyu Meng & Can Wang & Jing Wang & Wanchun Duan, 2023. "The task coordination method of intelligence‐alliance innovation team of universities in Western China," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(2), pages 503-524, March.
    3. Frédéric Docquier & Joël Machado, 2016. "Global Competition for Attracting Talents and the World Economy," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(4), pages 530-542, April.
    4. Bhardwaj, Bhawana & Sharma, Dipanker, 2023. "Migration of skilled professionals across the border: Brain drain or brain gain?," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 41(6), pages 1021-1033.
    5. Li, Baoxi & Cheng, Shixiong & Xiao, De, 2020. "The impacts of environmental pollution and brain drain on income inequality," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    6. Chen, Shiyi & Song, Hong & Wu, Chenyu, 2021. "Human capital investment and firms’ industrial emissions: Evidence and mechanism," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 162-184.
    7. Emad Kazemzadeh & José Alberto Fuinhas & Narges Salehnia & Matheus Koengkan & Masoud Shirazi & Fariba Osmani, 2024. "Factors driving CO2 emissions: the role of energy transition and brain drain," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 1673-1700, January.
    8. Khee Giap Tan & Randong Yuan & Sangiita Wei Cher Yoong, 2017. "Assessing Development Strategies of Jiangsu and Taiwan: A Geweke Causality Analysis," Review of Pacific Basin Financial Markets and Policies (RPBFMP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 20(04), pages 1-28, December.
    9. Chenhui Hu & Haining Jiang, 2021. "Causal Nexus between Sci-Tech Talent and Economic Growth in the Pan-Yangtze River Delta of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-18, June.
    10. Blanco-Álvarez, Jose & Parsons, Christopher & Tang, Sam & Wang, Yong, 2022. "Brain Refrain and Human Capital Formation in Spain," IZA Discussion Papers 15400, IZA Network @ LISER.
    11. Mian Huang & Chunbing Xing & Xiaoyong Cui, 2022. "Does College Location Affect the Location Choice of New College Graduates in China?," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 30(3), pages 135-160, May.
    12. Mehak Ejaz & Muhammad Ramzan Sheikh & Rana Zafar Hayat & Neelam Asghar Ali, 2022. "Overseas Labour Migration, Remittances, International Trade and Economic Growth Nexus in Pakistan," Journal of Policy Research (JPR), Research Foundation for Humanity (RFH), vol. 8(3), pages 166-175, September.
    13. Bist, Jagadish Prasad, 2025. "Too much remittance? Growth-dependent asymmetric effects in a low-income economy," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 254(C).
    14. Yongyue Ji & Lijun Zhang, 2023. "Comparative analysis of spatial–temporal differences in sustainable development between the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the Yellow River Economic Belt," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 979-994, January.
    15. Ran Yu & Zhangchi Wang & Yan Li & Zuhui Wen & Weijia Wang, 2023. "Does Population Aging Affect Carbon Emission Intensity by Regulating Labor Allocation?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-19, June.
    16. Renier Steyn & Takawira Munyaradzi Ndofirepi, 2024. "Why do many educated individuals leave Zimbabwe? Economic realities and the draw of developed countries," Insights into Regional Development, VsI Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center, vol. 6(2), pages 117-133, June.
    17. Wentao Yu & Xiaolan Tan, 2022. "The creative class in China: Heterogeneity and its regional determinants," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(8), pages 3466-3478, December.
    18. Zeng Guohua & Hu Yuelong & Wu Wenwen & Isaac Kofi Mensah, 2021. "Employment Flow of College Graduates in China: City Preference and Group Difference," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(1), pages 21582440219, March.
    19. Jia, Ning & Fleisher, Belton M., 2024. "Economic incentives and return migrant scholars: Evidence from a talent recruitment program in China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration

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