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Medical Worker Migration and Origin-Country Human Capital: Evidence from U.S. Visa Policy

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  • Abarcar, Paolo
  • Theoharides, Caroline

Abstract

We exploit changes in U.S. visa policies for nurses to measure brain drain versus gain. Combining data on all migrant departures and postsecondary institutions in the Philippines, we show that nursing enrollment and graduation increased substantially in response to greater U.S. demand for nurses. The supply of nursing programs expanded to accommodate this increase. Nurse quality, measured by licensure exam pass rates, declined. Despite this, for each nurse migrant, 10 additional nurses were licensed. New nurses switched from other degree types, but graduated at higher rates than they would have otherwise, thus increasing the human capital stock in the Philippines.

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  • Abarcar, Paolo & Theoharides, Caroline, 2020. "Medical Worker Migration and Origin-Country Human Capital: Evidence from U.S. Visa Policy," SocArXiv m79h2, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:m79h2
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/m79h2
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    Cited by:

    1. Mauro Lanati & Rainer Thiele, 2021. "Aid for health, economic growth, and the emigration of medical workers," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(7), pages 1112-1140, October.
    2. Agarwal, Ruchir & Ganguli, Ina & Gaulé, Patrick & Smith, Geoff, 2023. "Why U.S. immigration matters for the global advancement of science," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(1).
    3. Mobarak, Ahmed Mushfiq & Sharif, Iffath & Shrestha, Maheshwor, 2021. "Returns to International Migration: Evidence from a Bangladesh-Malaysia Visa Lottery," IZA Discussion Papers 14232, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Blanco-Álvarez, Jose & Parsons, Christopher & Tang, Sam & Wang, Yong, 2022. "Brain Refrain and Human Capital Formation in Spain," IZA Discussion Papers 15400, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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