Die Dis cus si on Pape rs die nen einer mög lichst schnel len Ver brei tung von neue ren For schungs arbei ten des ZEW. Die Bei trä ge lie gen in allei ni ger Ver ant wor tung der Auto ren und stel len nicht not wen di ger wei se die Mei nung des ZEW dar.Dis cus si on Papers are inten ded to make results of ZEW research prompt ly avai la ble to other eco no mists in order to encou ra ge dis cus si on and sug gesti ons for revi si ons. The aut hors are sole ly respon si ble for the con tents which do not neces sa ri ly repre sent the opi ni on of the ZEW. The Impact of Parents Migration on the Well-being of Children Left BehindInitial Evidence from RomaniaAlina Botezat* and Friedhelm Pfeiffer** AbstractMany children grow up with parents working abroad. Economists are interested in the achievement and well-being of these "home alone" children to better understand the positive and negative aspects of migration in the sending countries. This paper examines the causal effects of parents' migration on their children left home in Romania, a country where increasingly more children are left behind in recent years. Using samples from a unique representative survey carried out in 2007 instrumental variable and bivariate probit estimates have been performed. Our initial evidence demonstrates that in Romania home alone children receive higher school grades, partly because they increase their time allocation for studying. However, they are more likely to be depressed and more often suffer from health problems especially in rural areas.

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Background: The past two decades have been marked by impressive growth in the migration of medical doctors. The medical profession is among the most mobile of highly skilled professions, particularly in Europe, and is also the sector that experiences the most serious labour shortages. However, surprisingly little is known about how medical doctors choose their destinations. In addition, the literature is scarce on the factors determining the sharp rise in the migration of doctors from Africa, Asia and Eastern and Southeastern Europe, and how the last economic crisis has shaped the migration flows of health professionals. Methods: We use the new module on health worker migration provided by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for 2000-2016 in order to examine the channels through which OECD countries attract foreign physicians from abroad. We estimate a gravity model using the Pseudo-Poisson Maximum Likelihood estimator. Results: Our results reveal that a lower unemployment rate, good remuneration of physicians, an aging population, and a high level of medical technology at the destination are among the main drivers of physicians' brain drain. Furthermore, an analysis of the mobility of medical doctors from a number of regions worldwide shows that individuals react differently on a country-wise basis to various determinants present in the destination countries. Physicians from African countries are particularly attracted to destination countries offering higher wages, and to those where the density of medical doctors is relatively low. Concurrently, a higher demand for healthcare services and better medical technology in the receiving country drives the inflow of medical doctors from Central and Eastern Europe, while Asian doctors seem to preferentially migrate to countries with better school systems. Conclusions: This study contributes to a deeper understanding of the channels through which OECD countries attract foreign medical doctors from abroad. We find that, apart from dyadic factors, a lower unemployment rate, good remuneration of physicians, an aging population, and good medical infrastructure in the host country are among the main drivers of physicians' brain drain. Furthermore, we find that utility from migration to specific countries may be explained by the heterogeneity of origin countries.

Many children grow up with parents working abroad. Social scientists are interested in the scholastic achievement and health of these left‐behind children, in order to better understand the positive and negative aspects of migration for the families in the sending countries. This paper examines the causal effects of parents' migration on the education, physical, and mental health of left‐behind children aged 11 to 15 years in Romania, a country where increasingly more children have parents working abroad. Using data from a unique representative survey carried out in 2007, instrumental variable and bivariate probit estimates have been performed. The paper finds evidence for a significant positive effect of parental migration on children's school performance (reflected in higher grades) and a higher probability of suffering from depression and having health problems more frequently. The study furthermore demonstrates that living in transnational families is more harmful for girls and for those from rural areas.

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This paper provides an analysis of the performance and efficiency of the public sector in the European Union (EU). Using composite indicators and data envelopment analysis, we focus on the new EU member countries, which were involved over the past decade in the accession and integration process. Results of the analysis indicate that, unlike "old" EU members, which invested more in sectors such as education or health, countries in Central and Eastern Europe, the "new" EU member states, have directed public resources mainly toward the performance of the government sectors. However, greater efficiency has been achieved precisely in those areas where they have invested less.KEy WORDS: data envelopment analysis, public sector efficiency, public sector performance.

While a large body of literature separately documents urban and rural resilience, little is known about how resilience evolves when communities experience an administrative reform that changes their judicial status from rural to urban. This paper explores the effects of the largest post-communist urbanization waves that took place in Romania in the early 2000s, when more communes were reclassified as towns. Using rich administrative data from 2000 to 2014, we employ a two-way fixed effect difference-in-differences research design to examine the impact of the reform on the resilience capacity of the affected communes. Our results reveal that the administrative reform had an initially positive impact on the physical resilience capacity. While the administrative reform did not have a significant effect on the overall resilience capacity of the newly declared towns, there are important differences across groups. The settlements situated in more developed counties and those with higher income levels were among the main beneficiaries. Negatively affected were mainly the poor communes and those that lack accessibility due to their mountain position and being far from big cities. In policy terms, this clearly emphasizes the need for place-sensitive policies complementing the administrative reform in order to help them escape from their rural uprootedness.

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