International Migration, Remittances, and the Brain Drain
Knowledge of the economic effects of migration, especially its impact on economic development, is rather limited. In order to expand knowledge on migration, and identify policies and reforms that would lead to superior development outcomes, this vo...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
Washington, DC: World Bank and Palgrave Macmillan
2012
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2006/01/6360661/international-migration-remittances-brain-drain http://hdl.handle.net/10986/6929 |
| Summary: | Knowledge of the economic effects of
migration, especially its impact on economic development, is
rather limited. In order to expand knowledge on migration,
and identify policies and reforms that would lead to
superior development outcomes, this volume presents the
results of a first set of studies carried out on the
subject. Current demographic trends in both developed and
developing countries are pointing toward significant,
potential economic gains from migration. The labor forces in
many developed countries are expected to peak around 2010,
and decline by around 5 percent in the following two
decades, accompanied by a rapid increase in dependency
ratios. Conversely, the labor forces in many developing
countries are expanding rapidly, resulting in declines in
dependency ratios. This imbalance is likely to create strong
demand for workers in developed countries' labor
markets, especially for numerous service sectors that can
only be supplied locally. There are large north-south wage
gaps, however, especially for unskilled and semiskilled
labor. Part 1 of this book, Migration and Remittances,
examines the determinants of migration, and the impact of
migration and remittances on various development indicators,
and measures of welfare. Among these are poverty and
inequality; investments in education, health, housing and
other productive activities; entrepreneurship; and child
labor and education. It focuses on different source
countries, use data collected via different methodologies,
and employ different econometric tools. Their results,
however, are surprisingly consistent. Part 2, Brain Drain,
Brain Gain, Brain Waste, focuses on issues related to the
migration of skilled workers, that is, the brain drain. It
presents the most extensive database on bilateral skilled
migration to date, and also examines a number of issues
associated with the brain drain, that have not been
emphasized in the literature so far, uncovers a number of
interesting and unexpected patterns, and, provides answers
to some of the debates. This volume deals essentially with
economically motivated south-north migration, whose
principal cause is, in most cases, the difference in (the
present value of) expected real wages, adjusted for
migration costs. |
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