The Effect of Occupation-Specific Brain Drain on Human Capital

Abstract

This paper tests the hypothesis of a beneficial brain drain using occupation-specific data on migration from developing countries to OECD countries around 2000. Distinguishing between several types of human capital allows to assess whether the impact of high-skilled south-north migration on human capital in the sending economies differed across occupational groups requiring tertiary education. We find a robust negative effect of the incidence of high-skilled emigration on the level of human capital in the sending countries, thereby rejecting the hypothesis of a beneficial brain drain. The negative effect was significantly stronger for professionals – the occupational category with the largest incidence of south-north migration and the highest educational requirements – than for technicians and associate professionals.