Skilled migration and health outcomes in developing countries

Abstract

Many studies have found that health outcomes decline when health professionals leave the country, but do such results remain consistent in gender- and income-disaggregated skilled migration? To help uncover explanations for such a pro-migration nature of health outcomes, the present study revisits this topic but allows for associations of skilled migration with mortality and life expectancy to differ between male and female, and between low- and high-income countries. Using a panel of 133 developing countries as source and 20 OECD countries as destination from 1980 to 2010 allowing the coefficient on emigration across different education levels to differ, the study finds the negative effect of high-skilled emigration on health outcomes. Such effect is more pronounced for high-skilled female migration than those for male and for low-income countries than for middle-and high-income countries. Results also show that such adverse effect is larger for African countries than non-African ones. However, the low-skilled migration appears to be insignificant to affect health outcomes in developing countries. Thus, skilled migration is detrimental to longevity in developing countries but unskilled migration is not.

Is the interest rate setting behaviour of the Bank of Ghana constrained by high debt levels?

“…The use of the lagged debt to GDP ratio as the threshold variable vis‐à‐vis the measure of the dependent variable (monetary policy rate) as current values help to eliminate potential endogeneity or feedback problems between the threshold variable and the monetary policy rate. The argument is that whereas previous values of debt to GDP may have an effect on current interest rates, the reverse is not plausible (see Boachie, Ramu, & Põlajeva, 2018; Uprety, 2019). Similarly, the expression of the other regressors as one‐quarter lead, in view of the fact that policy responds to expectations, makes simultaneity or feedback (if any) between these regressors and the policy variable rather remote.…”

Doctors Behind Borders : The Ethics of Skilled Worker Emigration

“…Notably, economic studies have emphasised the long-term positive return effects of skilled worker emigration from developing countries in the form of incentivising tertiary education (Clemens 2009). However, the developmental effects of skilled worker emigration on lowincome countries are controversial (Uprety 2018). While increasing physician emigration leads to a higher number of graduates in medical education, researchers argue that the extent to which this leads to a beneficial effect for health outcomes is very minimal (Bhargava, Docquier, and Moullan 2011;Kapur 2017).…”

“…However, international emigration also plays a role in this. The adverse effects of health worker emigration are still a concern, and the emigration of skilled workers still seem to detrimentally affect health outcomes (Uprety 2018).…”

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

“…Brain drain is when a country loses its talented, skilled and highly educated people to another country through migration; mostly from developing countries to developed countries (Yieng et al, 2017;Fong & Hassan, 2017;Nechad, 2018). This often leads to 447 serious skilled manpower scarcity that makes it difficult for some developing countries to provide the basic needs of its citizenry (Hobden, 2017;Thapa & Shrestha, 2017;Uprety, 2019).…”

“…Although there is a general brain drain of scientists, doctors, academics, engineers and IT specialists due to the increasing migration of these professionals to developed countries (Ullah, 2018;Laila & Fiaz, 2018;Anokye et al, 2019). However, this paper is focused on the brain drain of health professionals as study shows that the estimated 4.3 million shortfall of healthcare professionals worldwide has increased the demand for doctors and nurses by the richer nations (Brock & Blake, 2017;Mlambo & Adetiba, 2017;Jack, 2019); and many studies have found that mortality is threatened, and health outcomes decline when health professionals leave the country (Donoso & Mancilla, 2017;Yuksekdag, 2018;Uprety, 2019). The effective functioning of any health sector is highly dependent on the availability of skilled health professionals, losing these professionals will ultimately weaken the socio economic development of its country; hence the need to find ways of limiting their migration (Donoso & Mancilla, 2017;Okeja, 2017;Mlambo & Adetiba, 2017).…”