The Brain Drain: Curse or Boon?

Simon Commander (), Mari Kangasniemi and L. Winters
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Simon Commander: IE Business School, Altura Partners

No 809, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: The migration of skilled individuals from developing countries has typically been considered to be costly for the sending country, due to lost investments in education, high fiscal costs and labour market distortions. Economic theory, however, raises the possibility of a beneficial brain drain primarily through improved incentives to acquire human capital. Our survey of empirical and theoretical work shows under what circumstances a developing country can benefit from skilled migration. It argues that the sectoral aspects of migration and screening of migrants in the receiving country are of major importance in determining the welfare implications of the brain drain. These issues, as well as the size of the sending country, duration of migration and the effect of diaspora populations, should be addressed in future empirical work on skilled migration. JEL

Keywords: globalization; migration; brain drain (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F2 J6 O1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 38 pages
Date: 2003-06
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (51)

Published - published in: R. Baldwin and L. A. Winters (eds.), Challenges to Globalisation. NBER and University of Chicago Press, 2004

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