Studying Abroad and the Effect on International Labor Market Mobility: Evidence from the Introduction of ERASMUS

Matthias Parey and Fabian Waldinger

No 3430, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We investigate the effect of studying abroad on international labor market mobility later in life for university graduates. As a source of identifying variation, we exploit the introduction and expansion of the European ERASMUS student exchange program, which significantly increases a student’s probability of studying abroad. Using an Instrument Variable approach we control for unobserved heterogeneity between individuals who studied abroad and those who did not. Our results indicate that student exchange mobility is an important determinant of later international labor market mobility: We find that studying abroad increases an individual’s probability of working in a foreign country by about 15 to 20 percentage points, suggesting that study abroad spells are an important channel to later migration. We investigate heterogeneity in returns and find that studying abroad has a stronger effect for credit constrained students. Furthermore, we suggest mechanisms through which the effect of studying abroad may operate. Our results are robust to a number of specification checks.

Keywords: student exchange; migration; international mobility; education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F22 I2 J61 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 41 pages
Date: 2008-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-eec, nep-hrm, nep-lab and nep-mig
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

Published - revised version published in: Economic Journal, 2011, 121(551), 194–222

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Related works:
Journal Article: Studying Abroad and the Effect on International Labour Market Mobility: Evidence from the Introduction of ERASMUS (2011)
Working Paper: Studying Abroad and the Effect on International Labour Market Mobility: Evidence from the Introduction of ERASMUS (2011)
Working Paper: Studying Abroad and the Effect on International Labor Market Mobility: Evidence from the Introduction of Erasmus (2007)
Working Paper: Studying abroad and the effect on international labor market mobility: evidence from the introduction of Erasmus (2007)
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