Brain Drain and its Determinants: A Major Issue for Small States

Michel Beine, Frédéric Docquier and Maurice Schiff

No 3398, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper examines the relationship between the brain drain and country size, as well as the extent of small states’ overall loss of human capital. We find that small states are the main losers because they i) lose a larger proportion of their skilled labor force and ii) exhibit stronger reactions to standard push factors. We also observe that the correlation between human capital indicators and country size is close to zero. This suggests that small states are more successful in producing skilled natives and less successful in retaining them.

Keywords: human capital; small states; brain drain; openness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F22 J24 J61 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 25 pages
Date: 2008-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev, nep-hrm and nep-mig
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (21)

Published - revised version published in: Artal-Tur/Peri/Requena-Silvente (Eds.),The Socio-Economic Impact of Migration Flows - Springer: 2014

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