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Why do Students Migrate? Where do they Migrate to?

Author

Listed:
  • Elise Brezis

    (Azrieli Center for Economic Policy (ACEP), Bar-Ilan University)

  • Ariel Soueri

    (Department of Economics, Bar-Ilan University; Ministry of Finance)

Abstract

The flow of students has grown very rapidly these last decades, and in some regions, has become twice as important as the flows of those seeking work. The purpose of this study is to explore the elements affecting students’ decision on migration. The two main elements affecting migration are wages, and quality of education. It should be stressed that the countries with the highest-quality education are not necessarily those with high wages. Therefore there is a need to explore whether it is quality of higher education or wage levels that determine the direction of student flows. First, we develop a simple two-stage model relating decisions on educational choices to those on job search. Our model shows that student migration is towards countries with the highest quality of higher education. In the second part of this study, we empirically investigate our theoretical model using a panel data on European OECD countries. We use the Bologna process to outline which of the elements, wages or educational quality, determines the direction of flows. We find strong evidence of concentration of students in countries with high-quality education and not in high-wage countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Elise Brezis & Ariel Soueri, 2011. "Why do Students Migrate? Where do they Migrate to?," Working Papers 25, AlmaLaurea Inter-University Consortium.
    • Handle: RePEc:laa:wpaper:25
    as

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    File URL: http://www2.almalaurea.it/universita/pubblicazioni/wp/pdf/wp25.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Elise Brezis & Paul Krugman, 1996. "Immigration, investment, and real wages," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 9(1), pages 83-93, February.
    2. Heaton, Christopher & Throsby, David, 1998. "Benefit-Cost Analysis of Foreign Student Flows from Developing Countries: The Case of Postgraduate Education," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 117-126, April.
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    7. Panu Poutvaara, 2004. "Public Education in an Integrated Europe: Studying to Migrate and Teaching to Stay?," CESifo Working Paper Series 1369, CESifo.
    8. Donata Bessey, 2012. "International student migration to Germany," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 345-361, February.
    9. Stark, Oded & Helmenstein, Christian & Prskawetz, Alexia, 1998. "Human capital depletion, human capital formation, and migration: a blessing or a "curse"?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 363-367, September.
    10. Akerlof George A & Kranton Rachel, 2010. "Identity Economics," The Economists' Voice, De Gruyter, vol. 7(2), pages 1-3, June.
    11. Ahn, Namkee & de la Rica, Sara & Ugidos, Arantza, 1999. "Willingness to Move for Work and Unemployment Duration in Spain," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 66(263), pages 335-357, August.
    12. Kaluzny, Richard L, 1975. "Determinants of Household Migration: A Comparative Study by Race and Poverty Level," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 57(3), pages 269-274, August.
    13. Beine, Michel & Docquier, Frederic & Rapoport, Hillel, 2001. "Brain drain and economic growth: theory and evidence," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 275-289, February.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Bénassy, Jean-Pascal & Brezis, Elise S., 2013. "Brain drain and development traps," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 15-22.
    2. Reinhard A. Weisser, 2020. "How Personality Shapes Study Location Choices," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 61(1), pages 88-116, February.
    3. Romuald Méango, 2014. "International Student Migration: A Partial Identification Analysis," CESifo Working Paper Series 4677, CESifo.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Migration; Human capital; Students; higher education; Bologna process; Brain drain.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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