The Gain from the Drain - Skill-biased Migration and Global Welfare

Arbeitspapier

High-skilled workers are four times more likely to migrate than low-skilled workers. This skill bias in migration - often called brain drain - has been at the center of a heated debate about the welfare consequences of emigration from developing countries. In this paper, we provide a global perspective on the brain drain by jointly quantifying its impact on the sending and receiving countries. In a calibrated multi-country model, we compare the current world to a counterfactual with the same number of migrants, but those migrants are randomly selected from their country of origin. We find that the skill bias in migration significantly increases welfare in most receiving countries. Moreover, due to a more efficient global allocation of talent, the global welfare effect is positive, albeit some sending countries lose. Overall, our findings suggest that more - not less - high-skilled migration would increase world welfare.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: CReAM Discussion Paper Series ; No. 24/16

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; International Migration ; Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration ; Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
• Subject: migration ; brain drain ; global welfare

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Biavaschi, Costanza ; Burzynski, Michal ; Elsner, Benjamin ; Machado, Joël
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Centre for Research & Analysis of Migration (CReAM), Department of Economics, University College London
• (where): London
• (when): 2016

Further information

• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET