Brain drain and job dissatisfaction. Evidence from a developing country

We study the extent to which individuals' reported job dissatisfaction could drive brain drain in a developing country, taking Uruguay as a case study. We focus on a particular group of highly skilled workers, those holding a PhD and working in research, due to their relevance for development. This group has not been previously addressed in the literature on brain drain. We build on previous literature and address causality by estimating seemingly unrelated equations with instrumental variables. Our results point to a negative causal relationship between job satisfaction and a researcher's desire to emigrate. We also find that researchers embedded in international academic networks are more prone to report an intention to emigrate. Our policy recommendations are in line with those aiming to increase pecuniary and non-pecuniary aspects of the job, and to implement complex policies of international collaboration with researchers living abroad in order to at least partially offset brain drain.