The Gain from the Drain: Skill-biased Migration and Global Welfare

Costanza Biavaschi, Michał Burzyński (), Benjamin Elsner and Joël Machado

No 10275, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: High-skilled workers are four times more likely to migrate than low-skilled workers. This skill bias in migration – often called brain drain – has been at the center of a heated debate about the welfare consequences of emigration from developing countries. In this paper, we provide a global perspective on the brain drain by jointly quantifying its impact on the sending and receiving countries. In a calibrated multi-country model, we compare the current world to a counterfactual with the same number of migrants, but those migrants are randomly selected from their country of origin. We find that the skill bias in migration significantly increases welfare in most receiving countries. Moreover, due to a more efficient global allocation of talent, the global welfare effect is positive, albeit some sending countries lose. Overall, our findings suggest that more – not less – high-skilled migration would increase world welfare.

Keywords: global welfare; brain drain; migration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F22 J61 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 59 pages
Date: 2016-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-int, nep-knm and nep-mig
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Published - published in: Journal of Development Economics, 2020, 142, 102317

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Working Paper: The Gain from the Drain - Skill-biased Migration and Global Welfare (2016)
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