The Microeconomic Determinants of Emigration and Return Migration of the Best and Brightest: Evidence from the Pacific
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In this article, a unique survey which tracks worldwide the best and brightest academic performers from three Pacific countries is used to assess the extent of emigration and return migration among the very highly skilled, and to analyze, at the microeconomic level, the determinants of these migration choices.Abstract:
A unique survey which tracks worldwide the best and brightest academic performers from three Pacific countries is used to assess the extent of emigration and return migration among the very highly skilled, and to analyze, at the microeconomic level, the determinants of these migration choices. Although we estimate that the income gains from migration are very large, not everyone migrates and many return. Within this group of highly skilled individuals the emigration decision is found to be most strongly associated with preference variables such as risk aversion, patience, and choice of subjects in secondary school, and not strongly linked to either liquidity constraints or to the gain in income to be had from migrating. Likewise, the decision to return is strongly linked to family and lifestyle reasons, rather than to the income opportunities in different countries. Overall the data show a relatively limited role for income maximization in distinguishing migration propensities among the very highly skilled, and a need to pay more attention to other components of the utility maximization decision.read more
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References
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Book ChapterDOI
The Costs and Returns of Human Migration
TL;DR: In this paper, the influence of migration as an equilibrating mechanism in a changing economy has been examined and it is shown that the movements of migrants clearly are in the appropriate direction, but we do not know whether the numbers are sufficient to correct income disparities as they emerge.
Posted Content
Self-Selection and the Earnings of Immigrants
TL;DR: This article analyzed the way in which the immigrant population may be expected to differ from the earnings of the native population because of the endogeneity of the migration decision and showed that differences in the U.S. earnings of immigrants with the same measured skills, but from different home countries, are attributable to variations in conditions in the country of origin at the time of migration.
ReportDOI
Self-Selection and the Earnings of Immigrants
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed the way in which the earnings of the immigrant population may be expected to differ from those of the native population because of the endogeneity of the decision to migrate.
Journal ArticleDOI
Does Schooling Cause Growth
Mark Bils,Peter J. Klenow +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, a model is examined in which the ability to build on the human capital of one's elders plays an important role in linking growth to schooling, and it is shown that the impact of schooling on growth explains less than one third of the empirical cross-country relationship.
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Where Has All the Education Gone
Lant Pritchett,Lant Pritchett +1 more
TL;DR: Pritchett et al. as discussed by the authors found that education did not lead to faster economic growth and pointed out that increasing educational capital resulting from improvements in the educational attainment of the labor force has no positive impact on the growth rate of output per worker.