Full Citation

Title: Remittances and the Brain Drain Revisited: The microdata show that more educated migrants remit more

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2009

ISBN:

ISSN:

DOI:

NSFID:

PMCID:

PMID:

Abstract: Two of the most salient trends surrounding the issue of migration and development over the lasttwo decades are the large rise in remittances, and an increased flow of skilled migration.However, recent literature based on cross-country regressions has claimed that more educatedmigrants remit less, leading to concerns that further increases in skilled migration will hamperremittance growth. We revisit the relationship between education and remitting behavior usingmicrodata from surveys of immigrants in eleven major destination countries. The data show amixed pattern between education and the likelihood of remitting, and a strong positiverelationship between education and the amount remitted conditional on remitting. Combiningthese intensive and extensive margins gives an overall positive effect of education on the amountremitted. The microdata then allow investigation as to why the more educated remit more. Wefind the higher income earned by migrants, rather than characteristics of their family situationsexplains much of the higher remittances. Finally, we show that it does not appear to be the casethat the rise in skilled migration is coming at the expense of less-skilled migrants insteadcountries with a high number of skilled migrants also have a high number of less-skilledmigrants in both the cross-section and over time. As a result the fear that a rise in skilledmigration will lower remittances and reduce less-skilled migration is not supported by theevidence.

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Morten, Melanie; McKenzie, David; Rapoport, Hillel; Bollard, Albert

Publisher: World Bank

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Education, Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Migration and Immigration

Countries: United States