Age, wage and vintage: Empirical validation of brain drain in the migration of Indian knowledge workers to the United States of America

Abstract

This article examines the effects of brain drain caused by the migration of knowledge workers from India to the United States of America (USA) during the pre- and post-global financial crisis periods, 2005–2007 and 2011–2013. Data from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series for the year 2018 are used to compare the different population groups in the USA and to estimate the hourly wages of Indian and White workers using Mincer regression and Oaxaca decomposition. Following Khadria’s (2001–2010) analytical propositions, three premium characteristics of Indian-origin workers to the USA consisting of: (1) an age-premium, (2) a wage-premium and (3) a vintage-premium are empirically examined. The findings uphold the theoretical construct and suggest that the migration of Indian knowledge workers to the USA results in brain drain to India and brain gain for the USA.