The effect of occupation-specific brain drain on human capital

Nina Heuer

No 7, University of Tübingen Working Papers in Business and Economics from University of Tuebingen, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, School of Business and Economics

Abstract: This paper tests the hypothesis of a beneficial brain drain using occupation-specific data on migration from developing countries to OECD countries around 2000. Distinguishing between several types of human capital allows to assess whether the impact of high-skilled south-north migration on human capital in the sending economies differed across occupational groups requiring tertiary education. We find a robust negative effect of the incidence of high-skilled emigration on the level of human capital in the sending countries, thereby rejecting the hypothesis of a beneficial brain drain. The negative effect was significantly stronger for professionals - the occupational category with the largest incidence of south-north migration and the highest educational requirements - than for technicians and associate professionals.

Keywords: International migration; Occupation-specific brain drain; Human capital; Transferability of skills; Beneficial brain drain (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F22 J24 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hrm, nep-lab and nep-mig
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:tuewef:7

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