A Gendered Assessment of the Brain Drain

Frédéric Docquier, B. Lindsay Lowell () and Abdeslam Marfouk ()
Additional contact information
B. Lindsay Lowell: Georgetown University

No 3235, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper updates and extends the Docquier-Marfouk data set on international migration by educational attainment. We use new sources, homogenize definitions of what a migrant is, and compute gender-disaggregated indicators of the brain drain. Emigration stocks and rates are provided by level of schooling and gender for 195 source countries in 1990 and 2000. Our data set can be used to capture the recent trend in women’s brain drain and to analyze its causes and consequences for developing countries. We show that women represent an increasing share of the OECD immigration stock and exhibit relatively higher rates of brain drain than men. The gender gap in skilled migration is strongly correlated with the gender gap in educational attainment at origin. Equating women’s and men’s access to education would probably reduce gender differences in the brain drain.

Keywords: human capital; gender; brain drain; migration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F22 J61 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 35 pages
Date: 2007-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-hrm, nep-lab and nep-mig
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (23)

Published - published in: Population and Development Review, 2009, 35 (2), 297-321

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https://docs.iza.org/dp3235.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: A gendered assessment of the brain drain (2008)
Working Paper: A gendered assessment of the brain drain (2007)
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