Abstract
Research on the relationship between high-skilled migration and remittances has been limited by the lack of suitable microdata. We create a unique cross-country dataset by combining household surveys from five Sub-Saharan African countries that enables us to analyze the effect of migrants' education on their remittance behavior. Having comprehensive information on both ends of the migrant-origin household relationship and employing household fixed effects specifications that only use within-household variation for identification allows us to address the problem of unobserved heterogeneity across migrants' origin households. Our results reveal that migrants' education has no significant impact on the likelihood of sending remittances. Conditional on sending remittances, however, high-skilled migrants send significantly higher amounts of money to their households left behind. This effect holds for the sub-groups of internal migrants and migrants in non-OECD countries, while it vanishes for migrants in OECD destination countries once characteristics of the origin household are controlled for.
Highlights
The so-called ‘brain drain’, or the migration of high-skilled individuals to other regions where human capital is abundant, is a major concern for developing countries with a relatively small number of highly educated individuals, as it represents the loss of their most talented workers.1 In this context, Sub-Saharan Africa is of particular interest: is the share of high-skilled individuals in Sub-Saharan Africa among the lowest in the world (UNESCO, 2016), but the high-skilled emigration rate from these countries has steadily increased since the mid-1990s, representing today the highest high-skilled emigration rate among all developing regions
Based on unique microdata from five Sub-Saharan African countries that contain comprehensive information on both migrants and their households at the origin country, we investigate the effect of migrants’ education on their remittance behaviour
While remittances may offset some of the negative externalities of the brain drain, there is a concern that highly educated migrants may send less remittances to their households at the origin country, suggesting that an increase in high-skill emigration will lower remittance flows
Summary
The so-called ‘brain drain’, or the migration of high-skilled individuals to other regions where human capital is abundant, is a major concern for developing countries with a relatively small number of highly educated individuals, as it represents the loss of their most talented workers (see, for example, Beine, Docquier, & Rapoport, 2008; Di Maria & Lazarova, 2012; Djiofack, Djimeu, & Boussichas, 2013; Haque & Kim, 1995). In this context, Sub-Saharan Africa is of particular interest: is the share of high-skilled individuals in Sub-Saharan Africa among the lowest in the world (UNESCO, 2016), but the high-skilled emigration rate from these countries has steadily increased since the mid-1990s (from 11% in 1995 to 16% in 2010, see Figure 1), representing today the highest high-skilled emigration rate among all developing regions. The so-called ‘brain drain’, or the migration of high-skilled individuals to other regions where human capital is abundant, is a major concern for developing countries with a relatively small number of highly educated individuals, as it represents the loss of their most talented workers (see, for example, Beine, Docquier, & Rapoport, 2008; Di Maria & Lazarova, 2012; Djiofack, Djimeu, & Boussichas, 2013; Haque & Kim, 1995).1 In this context, Sub-Saharan Africa is of particular interest: is the share of high-skilled individuals in Sub-Saharan Africa among the lowest in the world (UNESCO, 2016), but the high-skilled emigration rate from these countries has steadily increased since the mid-1990s (from 11% in 1995 to 16% in 2010, see Figure 1), representing today the highest high-skilled emigration rate among all developing regions. A prominent example is the medical brain drain (for example, the emigration of doctors and nurses), which is harmful because the number of physicians per inhabitant is extremely low in Sub-Saharan Africa, leading to a severe shortage of health-care workers and a decline in the population’s health status (Docquier & Rapoport, 2012).
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
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 callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
