Brain Drain in Developing Countries

Abstract

An original data set on international migration by educational attainment for 1990 and 2000 is used to analyze the determinants of brain drain from developing countries. The analysis starts with a simple decomposition of the brain drain in two multiplicative components, the degree of openness of sending countries (measured by the average emigration rate) and the schooling gap (measured by the education level of emigrants compared with natives). Regression models are used to identify the determinants of these components and explain crosscountry differences in the migration of skilled workers. Unsurprisingly, the brain drain is strong in small countries that are close to major Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) regions, that share colonial links with OECD countries, and that send most of their migrants to countries with quality-selective immigration programs. Interestingly, the brain drain increases with political instability and the degree of fractionalization at origin and decreases with natives' human capital. JEL classification codes: F22, O15, J24 The international migration of skilled workers (the so-called brain drain) has attracted considerable attention. Industrial countries such as Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom worry about the emigration of their talented workers, but it is the detrimental consequences of the brain drain for developing countries that are usually stressed in the literature. By depriving developing countries of human capital, one of their scarcest resources, brain drain is usually seen as a drag on economic development. Yet recent theoretical studies emphasize several compensatory effects, showing that a limited but positive skilled emigration rate can be beneficial for sending countries (

The role of environmental perceptions in migration decision-making: evidence from both migrants and non-migrants in five developing countries

“…This matches the interpretation that those individuals who most likely have better job opportunities due to their advanced education are more likely to look for these opportunities in a location other than their original place (see also Docquier et al 2007;Beine et al 2008). Given our sampling strategy, which mostly captures rural-to-urban migration, this finding might be more pronounced than in studies examining urban-to-urban or rural-to-rural migration.…”

Intention to pursue overseas jobs among university students and graduates: a case study from University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

“…Bhagwati and Hamada, 1974;Bhagawati and Wilson, 1989;Wickramasekara, 2002;Commander et al, 2004;Schiff, 2005;Docquier et al, 2007) with respect to losses and benefits for the donor country, it is difficult to find research on the determinants behind the migrant's intentions and perception on choosing a foreign posting as a career option. Thus, this study aimed at investigating the determinants that facilitate Sri Lankan university students' and graduates' persuasion towards seeking overseas jobs and to identify whether the actual behaviour is facilitated by the perceived behaviour toward overseas jobs.…”

Do brain drain and poverty result from coordination failures?

“…Recently, a few recent contributions take advantage of new databases in international migration by education level to investigate the determinants of the brain drain and the skill composition of emigration flows. Docquier, Lohest and Marfouk (2007) showed that the brain drain increases with political instability and the degree of fractionalization, and decreases with the level of development at origin. Grogger and Hanson (2008) found that a simple model of income maximization can account for positive selection (higher emigration rates for the skilled) and positive sorting (positive effect of wage differentials on the share of skilled in bilateral migration).…”