Does Brain Drains Argument Relevant or Irrelevant Nowadays? International Migration Impacts on Country of Origins, Country of Destinations, and Migrants in Perspective

Historically, international migration was a movement of people from overcrowded, resource-poor areas to ones that were underpopulated, had resources, and could put migrants to work. Return or temporary international migration then was basically a survival strategy for rural families that did not have the skills to easily hold year-round jobs in the country of destination. The present period is different; this is an age of restriction. A greater proportion of international return migration is involuntary return migration. It is in the aforementioned contexts that we seek to investigate return and the differential impacts of diverse experiences of returnees in India, Mexico, Guatemala, and Europe. Our findings confirm that we are indeed in a moment of transition in the nature of international migration—more marked in some countries than in others—where it is unlikely to contribute to development in the countries of origin because of the changing nature of their economies—from rural to urban—and is increasingly rejected by the countries of destination. The exceptions will be highly skilled migration, which is attractive to both countries of origin and countries of destination. Thus, return migration and international migration are probably more sharply differentiated in their outcomes by class than they were in the past.

Harnessing the Development Potential of Return Migration

Earlier studies using a double perspective (destination & origin) indicate that several macro-characteristics of both destination and origin countries affect the educational performance of migrant children. This paper explores the extent to which educational system features of destination and origin countries can explain these differences in educational achievement of migrant children, next to these macro-characteristics. Using data from the 2006 PISA survey, we performed cross-classified multilevel analysis on the science performance of 9.279 15-year-old migrant children, originating from 35 different countries, living in 16 Western countries of destination. We take into account a number of educational system characteristics of the countries of destination and origin, in order to measure the importance of differentiation, standardization, and the availability of resources. We show that differences in educational achievement between migrants cannot be fully attributed to individual characteristics or macro-characteristics. Educational system characteristics of countries of destination and origin are also meaningful. At the origin level, the length of compulsory education positively influences educational performance. This is especially the case for migrant pupils who attended education in their countries of origin. We show also that at the destination level, a high student-teacher ratio in primary education positively affects migrant pupil’s scientific performance. Moreover, migrant children with low educated parents do not perform less in highly stratified systems and even perform better in moderately differentiated systems than they do in comprehensive one. But migrant children with highly educated parents perform worse in highly and moderately stratified systems. This study underscores the importance of educational system features as an explanation of differences in educational achievement across different origin groups and across migrants living in different destination countries. Although individual level characteristics account for the largest educational achievement differences, educational system characteristics have an effect on top of these individual level characteristics and the average educational performance in their countries of origin. Differences in educational systems contribute to explaining the effects of economic and political macro-characteristics of the countries of origin on the educational performance of migrant children in destination countries.

The Costs and Returns of Human Migration

Chapter 2 examined why people migrate. But what happens in origin and destination countries when they do? In the United States, a larger voice calls for restricting immigration and certainly eliminating illegal migration. But perhaps a “silent” majority – business owners and the service industry, in particular – have the opposite desire. And what would happen to an economy if it did not have a pool of cheap labor, or, conversely, access to the creative, technological, and entrepreneurial talents of an intellectual elite that is not homegrown? On the other hand, what happens to origin countries when a labor or talent pool leaves? Of course, origin countries may see migration as a blessing if its labor supply can be absorbed only so far in their economies, but a “brain drain” may harm the prospects for an origin country to climb the developmental ladder. Of course, a country may try to absorb labor and professionals by attracting foreign investment to create industry and jobs; theoretically, in countries with natural resources, investment would help them climb the developmental ladder. Similarly, the globalization process should be creating a more balanced playing field for all countries, where the movement of capital and labor should lead to a “convergence” of wage levels and rental rates of capital, thus, over time shrinking migration (and capital) flows. Obviously it has not. In fact, where wages are higher, people will be like moths to a flame.

This article explores the experiences of some Black South African families affected by international migration. Historically, emigration from South Africa has occurred in waves, and has been associated with specific political moments. Such migration has often been perceived as a predominantly “White phenomenon”, but recent trends reveal a more complex picture. Prior research on Black migration has focused primarily on internal labour migration, exilic migration and the “brain drain” phenomenon of medical professionals. So far, little research has been done on the impact of international outward migration on the Black family system. This article addresses this gap, drawing on a larger qualitative project exploring the impact of South African emigration on elderly family members staying behind. The findings highlight the significance of close relational ties in the Black South African family system. Familial separation through emigration brings feelings of loss and apprehension for the wellbeing of family members living abroad, including potential racism in destination countries. Migrants abroad highlighted the value of family and of maintaining a Black South African identity, despite separation from the country of origin and the extended family. Significantly, migration is often perceived as a temporary state, in contrast to White South African counterparts. Given increased international migration, the results shed light on the interplay between racial identity and emigration, and the impact of international migration by Black South Africans on family that they leave behind.

Urbanization, Migration, and Adaptation to Climate Change

Part A of this report provides a systematic update of the evidence base regarding migration’s relevance to and impact on the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In doing so, it considers the role of migration as an enabler of development through a number of different channels – monetary and social remittances, the act of migrating and the impacts on those left behind. The evidence base for internal migration is often more robust and plentiful than for international migration and thus, where relevant, the impacts of internal migration on development are also considered. A brief synopsis of the findings per goal is listed below. –– Poverty: The impacts of migration on poverty are complex, contextspecific and dynamic. Nevertheless, it is relatively undisputed that migration can help people out of poverty through different channels – primarily through remittances, the highly skilled, the diaspora and the very act of moving. –– Education: Migration can affect education and human capital formation in several ways. The prospect of migration can be an incentive to achieve either more or less education, and the effects of migration on the educational attainment of children left behind can be either positive or negative. Broadly speaking, remittances are associated with positive educational outcomes, while having an absent parent can have negative impacts. The extent to which migration influences educational goals relates very much to contextual factors. –– Gender: In general, there are two major links between migration and female empowerment – the process of migration can itself be transformative, and migration can lead to challenging of gender norms. In general, in how far female migrants can benefit from migration seems influenced by the social, economic and cultural context in both the country of origin and the country of destination. While a favourable environment that helps to foster incorporation might lead to changing gender roles in the long run, experiences of discrimination and lack of integration can hinder them. –– Child mortality and maternal health: Migration is often linked to health outcomes through monetary transfers and social remittances. Monetary remittances can increase access to health services, and social remittances can improve health through transfer of norms and values relating to hygiene, preventative health care and so forth. Theoretically, the very act of moving – both internally and internationally – can also be beneficial to reducing child mortality and improving maternal health (and other more general health indicators) if it enables women more access to better-quality health services. Conversely, however, it can have negative impacts on children left behind. Brain drain is also an important point of discussion in the debate on the relationship between migration and health, although it is clear that a more nuanced debate focusing less on the negative implications is emerging. –– Communicable diseases: With increased globalization and mobility, individuals are increasingly connected. This increases the challenges associated with the management and control of public health, particularly regarding infectious diseases. Although much of the literature focuses on HIV/AIDS, the spread of other infectious diseases (i.e. hepatitis, tuberculosis, malaria, Chagas disease) has been associated with migration patterns. –– Environment: The relationship between migration and environmental sustainability is ambiguous, although since the 1990s it has been receiving increasing attention from researchers. It is generally assumed that environmental change will increase migration, particularly from those areas most at risk of climate-related shocks such as drought, desertification or flooding, although the empirical evidence does not currently support this. At the same time, migration can be a factor impacting the environment although less is known about this. Part B takes the debate a step further by first presenting argumentation for why migration is important and why mobility should be a component of the post-2015 development agenda. Following this, two ways in which migration could be incorporated in the post-2015 development agenda are considered: (1) situating migration alongside other “enablers” of migration such as trade in a reformulated version of MDG 8 on global partnerships; and (2) through the inclusion of migration-related indicators as a cross-cutting theme in the new development goals.

The article highlights and characterizes the main aspects of influence of migration processes on the separate constituent components of international and national security. It has been discovered that international migration influences security at three different levels: at the national level in countries of transit and countries of destination, migration can be treated as the threat to economic welfare, political stability, social order, culture, religion, and identity of separate states; at the bilateral level, migration movements have the tendency to escalate tension between countries of origin and countries of destination and, therefore, influence regional and international stability; at the level of separate migrants, whose actions can directly influence international relations. It has been proven that the influence of migration on security of separate states is ambiguous and has some threats that require detailed analysis and solution. It has been researched and specified that international migration is the essential component of the world order which determines and forms its social reality, influences all countries of the world, makes them places of origin, destination or transit for migrants. It has been demonstrated that the threats of migration processes are most significantly noticed in countries of destination, namely in their political, social, and economic spheres. Moreover, migration threats are aimed not only at disturbing the internal stability of separate states, but also the security of the entire society. It has been concluded that solving the main problems directly related to migration processes requires not only reaction to threats, but also application of all possible advantages for the efficient development of both countries of destination and countries of origin.

Internal and external migration can have a profound impact on rural asset accumulation in most Third World countries. In many African, Asian, and Latin American countries the bulk of the labor force still lives in the countryside. In these countries the large difference between expected rural and urban or foreign incomes, coupled with the risk-reducing functions of migration, causes workers to migrate, either to urban centers or abroad. The remittances—defined as the money or goods sent home by migrant workers—can have a large effect on the accumulation of assets in these rural areas. For example, an inflow of external remittances to rural households at the upper end of the income distribution could increase land accumulation by the rich. In general terms the effect of remittances on asset accumulation in a rural Third World economy depends on answers to three questions: (a) Who migrates? (b) How much net income do migrants remit? and (c) What are the marginal effects of these remittances on household consumption and investment? Because of data limitations, in this article I propose to examine only the first and the third questions; other researchers have addressed the second issue. In the past surprisingly little attention has been focused on the question of the marginal effects of remittances on household consumption and investment in the rural Third World. This inattention has been due to three considerable methodological problems. The first is fungibility; because remittances are like any other form of cash income, it is difficult to associate this income source with any particular changes in household expenditure behavior. The second problem relates to the multiple-round effects of remittances on the local economy. For example, an inflow of remittances into a rural area may lead to a surge in expenditures in housing, which may, in turn, create new income and employment opportunities for the poor and unskilled. Unfortunately, however, few studies have

The welfare state can be perceived as a safety net which helps individuals adjust to situations of risk or transition. Starting from this idea of the welfare state as safety net, this study addresses whether and how welfare generosity may influence people’s willingness to migrate. In doing so, we distinguish between two potential mechanisms, innovatively focusing on welfare provisions in both the country of origin and destination. First, a generous welfare system in the country of origin may have a retaining impact, as individuals may be unwilling to migrate to countries offering less social protection. Second, generous welfare provisions in the country of destination may enable migration for individuals who are more intolerant of uncertainty and who otherwise would prefer to remain immobile. We test both mechanisms using stated preference data collected with a unique experimental design among over 300 Dutch Master students. Confirming the first mechanism, we indeed find that respondents report a lower willingness to migrate when evaluating hypothetical scenarios where the level of social protection was higher in the country of origin as compared with the country of destination. Furthermore, and in line with the second mechanism, individuals who are more intolerant of uncertainty generally report a lower willingness to migrate, yet their willingness to migrate increases for scenarios with higher levels of unemployment benefits. Our findings, thus, indeed suggest that welfare arrangements are mainly serving a safety net function and need to be understood in relative terms between the country of origin and destination.

Globalization has contributed towards large-scale movement of human capital worldwide. As a result, there has been a rapid rise of people crossing the national border. This exodus was previously regarded as brain drain because the migrant never chose to return to their home country. Now, there has been a paradigm shift in the perception about skilled migrants leaving India from brain drain of the 1960s and 1970s to brain bank of the 1980s and 1990s and subsequently to brain gain in the twenty-first century. This has facilitated greater integration of global markets, but custom laws still govern movement of capital, goods and services across borders, while immigration laws govern cross-border movement of skilled and unskilled manpower. Government needed to contribute in terms of rethinking and redesigning development in the face of changing global scenario. It has been stated that the impact of brain drain on India should be examined in the light of globalization of human capital and resulting ‘second-generation’ possibilities for sustainable human development at home through expatriate investments particularly in education and health. Globalization of manpower has only just begun to take shape under Mode 4 of the General Agreement in Trade in Services (GATS) of the World Trade Organization—in terms of ‘movement of natural persons’ or ‘presence of service providers’, etc. to stay temporarily for purpose of work in a foreign country. In India, a large pool of skilled manpower continues to remain unemployed. Therefore, appropriate policy changes in international migration policies should be managed in such a way that they are beneficial to both origin and destination countries. Globalization has to some extent replaced manpower mobility in the form of trade and investment flows. Industrialized countries now export capital which uses scarce manpower. But fair movement of goods and services should also assist fair cross-border movement of people. This chapter focuses more on development from international manpower migration since return migration can be regarded as one of the important strategies for combating the problem of poverty, educated youth unemployment. This is an exploratory study and will try to highlight the positive effects of gainful migration.

Migration of the unskilled clearly benefits the origin country, mainly due to the flow of remittances but also if the departure of some raises the ability of others to migrate. This depends on whether trade is a complement or a substitute for migration. The impact of such flows on the destination country is more ambiguous, although most research indicates that wages and employment are not likely to be seriously affected. Migration of the skilled is ambiguous with respect to the origin country since the impact of brain drain on local development must be weighed against the signaling effect for additional education plus the contribution of remittances. With respect to the destination country, the inflow of skilled labor is generally considered an unambiguous plus as it contributes to the enhancement of productivity. The paper concludes with policy recommendations aimed at seizing the opportunities arising from the fact that international migration remains the most constrained element of globalization.

Progress of migration scholarship over 60 years of <i>International Migration</i>

Circular Migration between the North and the South: Effects on the Source Southern Economies