Examining the Impact of a Highly Targeted State Administered Merit Aid Program on Brain Drain: Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Analysis of Missouri’s Bright Flight Program

Critical review of the use of financial incentives in solving health professionals' brain drain

“…In order to examine the impact of a Missouri's Bright Flight Scholarship program, administrative datasets were obtained from ACT Inc., the Missouri Department of Higher Education and the Missouri Department of Labour and Industrial Relations (DOLIR). The data contained 154, 888 individual student records which when analyzed with the regression discontinuation analysis approach revealed that 52% of the analytical sample were employed within Missouri, an increase of 9% (Harrington et al, 2016).…”

Brain Drain in Maryland: Exploring Student Movement from High School to Postsecondary Education and the Workforce

“…For the purpose of studying brain drain, state policymakers would be interested in students' eventual contribution to the workforce and ability to support the economy of the state, not just where they reside. Much of the research that does address employment outcomes centers on the results of state-sponsored scholarship programs intended to encourage students to stay in state for college (e.g., Harrington et al, 2016;Hawley & Rork, 2013;Hickman, 2009;Sjoquist & Winters, 2013), rather than providing the general overview of student migration necessary to fully understand the trends.…”

“…Many states, such as Florida, Georgia, Missouri, and Texas, have adopted legislation designed to reward high-performing students with merit-or need-based assistance. These programs have differed in their impact on brain drain (Harrington et al, 2016;Hickman, 2009;Sjoquist & Winters, 2013;Zhang & Ness, 2010 (Perry, 2001). This implies that retaining high school graduates in state for college is more likely to benefit a state's workforce than is attracting outof-state students to its colleges.…”

Examining the Interstate Mobility of Recent College Graduates

“…The rationale behind this restriction is to prevent “brain drain”—students who leave a state after being educated there. State merit aid programs, which generally direct aid to traditional-age students who are attending college soon after graduating from high school, have been shown to keep talented in-state students in state both during and after college (e.g., Harrington, Munoz, Curs, & Ehlert, 2016; Zhang & Ness, 2010). Although the Excelsior Scholarship also focuses on traditional-age students, state merit aid programs are targeted to a much smaller percentage of high-achieving students and do not have the clawback provisions present in the Excelsior program.…”