Brain drain is a growing concern for many countries experiencing large emigration rates of their highly educated citizens. While several European countries have designed preferential tax schemes to attract high-skilled individuals, there is limited empirical evidence on the effectiveness of...

In recent years, young brain drain within Italian provinces has increased at higher speed than ever. While is premature to assess whether this process is transitory or permanent, it should be analysed and monitored by researchers and policy makers for its many socio-economic consequences....

We examine how low and high skilled internal emigration causally affect investments in human capital at origin. We provide theoretical and empirical evidence of a disincentive mechanism through which individuals refrain from education should low skilled emigration prove a viable alternative. Our...

The technological effects of innovative regions on lagging regions' labor markets have not been yet well understood, especially in the urban-rural context. I introduce a theoretical model that yields insight into the interactions between high-technology and lagging regions. While, through...

Skilled Migration: A Sign of Europe's Divide or Integration? examines the trends, determinants, and impacts of migration of high-skilled workers within the European Union in the past two decades. High-skilled migration, whether internal or international, is largely a symptom rather than a cause...

We follow the migration patterns of European inventors and find evidence of a novel emigration determinant: policy uncertainty. We find that policy uncertainty raises the rate of inventor emigration by a notable magnitude. With a one standard deviation in the policy uncertainty of the home...

Der Krieg in der Ukraine wird für Russland tiefgehende geopolitische und ökonomische Konsequenzen haben. In einem beispiellosen Ausmaß hat der Westen Sanktionen gegen Russland verhängt, die die jahrzehntelangen ökonomischen Verflechtungen weitestgehend auflösen. Zugleich erlebt Russland...

In the digital economy era, the organization of labor is no longer restricted by borders. China’s development has increased its demand for high-skilled workers. We build a model where European high-skilled workers can provide services to Chinese domestic firms remotely. High-skilled labor...

Recent immigration policies have created massive uncertainty for international students to obtain F-1 visas. Yet, before the COVID-19 pandemic, student visa applicants already faced an approximately 27 percent refusal rate that varies by time and region. Using data on the universe of SAT takers...

Talent is the most precious resource for today’s knowledge-based economy, and a significant share of the U.S. skilled workforce in technology fields is foreign born. The United States has long held a leading position in attracting global talent, but the gap to other countries is weakening....

An increasing number of countries are setting up policy programs to attract talented expats to return. Can such programs help reverse the brain drain of elite scientists from developing countries to the developed world? Will they facilitate or hinder returnee scientists’ knowledge...

Brain drain BD, human capital h, and inequality's institutional impact is examined in a model where a rent-seeking elite taxes residents and voicing affects the likelihood of regime change. We find that BD and h's impact on institutional quality (Q) are as follows: i) Q is a U-shaped function of...

Brain drain BD, human capital h, and inequality's institutional impact is examined in a model where a rent-seeking elite taxes residents and voicing affects the likelihood of regime change. We find that BD and h's impact on institutional quality (Q) are as follows: i) Q is a U-shaped function of...

The COVID-19 pandemic has ledto a substantial increase in the prevalence of working from home among white-collar occupations. This can have important implications for the future of the workplace and quality of life. We discussan additional implication,which we label reverse brain drain:the...

Human-capital migration and its consequences for regional development are among the central issues discussed in migration and regional literature, while a growing interest has been recently observed in student migration as a driver of brain exchange between regions and countries. Furthermore,...

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a substantial increase in the prevalence of working from home among white-collar occupations. This can have important implications for the future of the workplace and quality of life. We discuss an additional implication, which we label reverse brain drain: the...

This paper analyzes the effect of the so-called 'brain drain' on economic growth through the channel of growth in total factor productivity. We analyze panel data that measure the severity of brain drain, which are from IMD and the U.S. National Science Foundation. Our analysis shows that...

This paper assesses the potential for skilled labor migration from sub-Saharan Africa to Europe. It utilizes representative surveys from Ghana and Kenya to shed light on the quality and distribution of skills in the labor markets of these countries. Skills in both countries are found to be...

Emigration of young, motivated individuals may deprive countries-of-origin of entrepreneurs. We isolate exogenous variation in a large emigration wave from Italy between 2008 and 2015 by interacting diaspora networks with economic pull factors in destination countries, and find that larger...

Emigration of young, motivated individuals may deprive countries-of-origin of entrepreneurs. We isolate exogenous variation in a large emigration wave from Italy between 2008 and 2015 by interacting diaspora networks with economic pull factors in destination countries, and find that larger...

Despite the bulk of international migrants being youth, little is known about the factors driving young people's migration behavior at the global level. Using the individual-level survey data from Gallup World Poll across 139 countries over the period 2010-2016, this study contributes to the...

We consider how the possibility of international migration affects an individual’s educational choices in their home country. Without the opportunity to emigrate abroad people choose their educational investment (and hence their skill level) as we might expect, taking into account the utility...

The paper presents the implications of the brain drain phenomenon in Romania, focusing on possible solutions at European, national and local level. The consequences of the brain drain phenomenon as well as the magnitude of the problem in Romania were analysed based on a quality methodology,...

Immigration is a controversial topic that draws much debate. From a human sustainability perspective, immigration is disadvantageous for home countries causing brain drains. Ample evidence suggests the developed host countries benefit from immigration in terms of diversification, culture,...

We study the role of professional networks in facilitating the escape of persecuted academics from Nazi Germany. From 1933, the Nazi regime started to dismiss academics of Jewish origin from their positions. The timing of dismissals created individual-level exogenous variation in the timing of...

Migration and pollution are two defining features of China's impressive growth perfor- mance over the last 30 years. In this paper we study the migration response to pollution in Chinese cities, and its consequences for productivity and welfare. We document a robust pattern in which skilled...

We study the role of professional networks in facilitating the escape of persecuted academics from Nazi Germany. From 1933, the Nazi regime started to dismiss academics of Jewish origin from their positions. The timing of dismissals created individual-level exogenous variation in the timing of...

The world is currently at a crossroads. Low- and middle-income countries such as Nigeria are seeing rapid growth in their working-age populations. Yet often, these increasingly educated and skilled young people cannot find meaningful work within their countries of origin, either because their...

Does better access to skilled workers reduce firms' willingness to provide general skills training to unskilled workers? We analyze how the gradual opening of the Swiss labor market to workers from the European Union affected the number of apprenticeship positions that firms provide. We exploit...

Purpose Human capital flight from developing countries to developed nations has been rising and giving concerns to governments and scholars alike. This paper aims to explore the impact migration from Nigeria has on economic output growth by focusing on the migration rate, remittances, population...

Return migration can have multiple benefits. It allows migrants who have accumulated savings abroad to ease credit constraints at home and set up a business. Also, emigrants from low- and middle-income countries who have invested in their human capital may earn higher wages when they return....

The world is currently at a crossroads. Low- and middle-income countries such as Nigeria are seeing rapid growth in their working-age populations. Yet often, these increasingly educated and skilled young people cannot find meaningful work within their countries of origin, either because their...

This paper analyzes the relationship between brain drain, human capital accumulation and individual net incomes in the presence of a redistributional tax policy, credit market constraints, administrative costs of tax collection, and lack of government commitment. We characterize how decreasing...