This issue is at the forefront of developing countries’ concerns, raising many questions, including whether skilled migration is good or bad for origin countries. The first effort in this area has been to improve the data. Comprehensive Database on Brain Drain Docquier is extending the database on the brain drain produced by Carrington and Detragiache for the US for 1990, expanding the sample to all OECD countries and more developing countries, and doing so for both 1990 and 2000. It combines census and survey data from OECD countries and provides robust measures of the brain drain (defined as the stock of skilled workers living abroad (SLA) relative to the sum of SLA and of skilled labor in the home country), and is done per skill level (measured by educational attainment) to 5 receiving zones (USA, Canada, Australia, the EU, the rest of OECD). Analysis of World Distribution of the Brain Drain An analysis of the world distribution of the brain drain has been undertaken by Docquier and Marfouk. They present indicators of the brain drain for three developing regions (Africa, Asia, and Latin America). Building on the recent development in the theory of non-parametric density estimation, they compute the underlying distribution of brain drain by using kernel estimation techniques. The dynamic properties of the brain drain between 1990 and 2000 are captured by regional stochastic densities. The analysis is complemented by a spatial exploratory analysis (local and global autocorrelation tests). Initial results reveal very important differences in the regional distributions of the brain drain and their dynamics, despite a global convergence movement towards the worldwide average migration rate. Docquier and Marfouk also attempt to explain the changes in skilled emigration rates across countries by introducing variables such as political instability, individual freedom, ethnic conflicts, and health indicators.
Brain Waste In their analysis of the movements of skilled workers to the US, Aaditya Mattoo, Cristina Neagu, and Caglar Ozden find striking differences among highly educated immigrants from different countries in the types of jobs they obtain—some doing better than others but worse than similar natives (a “brain waste”), even after controlling for individuals’ age, experience and education – e.g. immigrants from Latin America and Eastern Europe are more likely to end up in unskilled jobs compared to immigrants from Asia. Mattoo, Neagu and Ozden state that a large part of the variation can be explained by the attributes of the country of origin that influence the quality of human capital, such as educational expenditure, and factors that influence selection effects such as US immigration policies. Impact of Enrollment of Foreign Graduate Students in US Universities on Patent Applications andUniversity Grants Chellaraj, Maskus and Mattoo demonstrate empirically that both the enrollment of foreign graduate students in US universities and immigration of skilled workers to the US have a positive and significant impact on future U.S. patent applications and on grants awarded to both firms and universities. The paper concludes that policies to restrict immigration in the U.S. may have been justified in the pre-globalization era (i.e. prior to 1980s) and may have been effective at protecting jobs of American workers and maintaining high wages. Today's situation is different: with the rapid economic development of countries in regions such as South and South East Asia and with global job mobility increasing, restricting immigration of skilled workers and graduate students limit US innovative activity and may be self-defeating in economic terms. Berndt Bratsberg has developed an extensive database of immigrant groups in Norway for the period 1967-2003, including data on demographics, labor market participation, and public transfers. He intends to study lifecycle employment patterns of immigrant groups. He will also examine various explanations for such patterns, including issues related to industry, return migration, labor market exclusion, and participation in public assistance programs.
Exploring policies to reduce exodus of trained medical staff from several African countries The migration of trained medical staff from several African countries to Europe and North America is of course of great concern and will be the object of another study. The team will attempt to assess the potential effectiveness and the financial implications of a public policy that would increase salaries of medical civil service in the developing countries. Brain Gain A fast expanding literature claims that a brain drain produces a brain gain (an increase in the demand for, and acquisition of, education)--because it results in a positive probability of emigrating and earning a higher income, and that the brain gain might well be larger than the brain drain, with positive welfare and growth consequences. Schiff (2005) examines these issues and concludes that they have been greatly overstated.
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