The World Bank Economic Review Advance Access published online on June 13, 2007
The World Bank Economic Review, doi:10.1093/wber/lhm008
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Brain Drain in Developing Countries
Frédéric Docquier (corresponding author) is a research associate at the National Fund for Economic Research; professor of economics at the Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium; and research fellow at the Institute for the Study of Labor, Bonn, Germany; his email address is docquier{at}ires.ucl.ac.be
Olivier Lohest is a research is a researcher at the Institut Wallon de l'Evaluation, de la Prospective et de la Statistique, Regional Government of Wallonia, Belgium; his email address is olohest{at}hotmail.com
Abdeslam Marfouk is a researcher at the Institute for the Study of International Migration, Georgetown University; his email address is a.marfouk{at}skynet.be
JEL classification codes: F22, O15, J24
An original data set on international migration by educational attainment for 1990 and 2000 is used to analyze the determinants of brain drain from developing countries. The analysis starts with a simple decomposition of the brain drain in two multiplicative components, the degree of openness of sending countries (measured by the average emigration rate) and the schooling gap (measured by the education level of emigrants compared with natives). Regression models are used to identify the determinants of these components and explain cross-country differences in the migration of skilled workers. Unsurprisingly, the brain drain is strong in small countries that are close to major Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) regions, that share colonial links with OECD countries, and that send most of their migrants to countries with quality-selective immigration programs. Interestingly, the brain drain increases with political instability and the degree of fractionalization at origin and decreases with natives' human capital.