Abstract

BackgroundThe past two decades have been marked by impressive growth in the migration of medical doctors. The medical profession is among the most mobile of highly skilled professions, particularly in Europe, and is also the sector that experiences the most serious labour shortages. However, surprisingly little is known about how medical doctors choose their destinations. In addition, the literature is scarce on the factors determining the sharp rise in the migration of doctors from Africa, Asia and Eastern and Southeastern Europe, and how the last economic crisis has shaped the migration flows of health professionals.MethodsWe use the new module on health worker migration provided by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for 2000–2016 in order to examine the channels through which OECD countries attract foreign physicians from abroad. We estimate a gravity model using the Pseudo-Poisson Maximum Likelihood estimator.ResultsOur results reveal that a lower unemployment rate, good remuneration of physicians, an aging population, and a high level of medical technology at the destination are among the main drivers of physicians’ brain drain. Furthermore, an analysis of the mobility of medical doctors from a number of regions worldwide shows that individuals react differently on a country-wise basis to various determinants present in the destination countries. Physicians from African countries are particularly attracted to destination countries offering higher wages, and to those where the density of medical doctors is relatively low. Concurrently, a higher demand for healthcare services and better medical technology in the receiving country drives the inflow of medical doctors from Central and Eastern Europe, while Asian doctors seem to preferentially migrate to countries with better school systems.ConclusionsThis study contributes to a deeper understanding of the channels through which OECD countries attract foreign medical doctors from abroad. We find that, apart from dyadic factors, a lower unemployment rate, good remuneration of physicians, an aging population, and good medical infrastructure in the host country are among the main drivers of physicians’ brain drain. Furthermore, we find that utility from migration to specific countries may be explained by the heterogeneity of origin countries.

Highlights

  • The migration of tertiary educated people from poor to rich countries has become an increasingly important feature of international migration

  • We show that a lower unemployment rate at the destination increases migration flows among medical doctors

  • Contrary to previous research on highly-skilled migration [19], our results suggest that PISA test scores are positively correlated with greater inflows of medical doctors

Read more

Summary

Introduction

The migration of tertiary educated people from poor to rich countries has become an increasingly important feature of international migration. Over the past few decades, the stock of highly-skilled immigrants in member countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) grew at a much faster rate than low-skilled workers [1]. One critical dimension of skilled migration, is the persistently higher mobility rates of health professionals. The medical profession is among the most mobile of highly skilled professions, in Europe. The past two decades have been marked by impressive growth in the migration of medical doctors. The medical profession is among the most mobile of highly skilled professions, in Europe, and is the sector that experiences the most serious labour shortages. The literature is scarce on the factors determining the sharp rise in the migration of doctors from Africa, Asia and Eastern and Southeastern Europe, and how the last economic crisis has shaped the migration flows of health professionals

Methods
Results
Discussion
Conclusion
Full Text
Published version (Free)

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call