The determinants of International Mobility of Students

in Economics of Education Review (2014), 41(C), 40-54

This paper analyzes the determinants of the choice of location of international students. Building on the documented trends in international migration of students, we identify the various factors ... [more ▼]

This paper analyzes the determinants of the choice of location of international students. Building on the documented trends in international migration of students, we identify the various factors associated to the attraction of migrants as well as the costs of moving abroad. Using new data capturing the number of students from a large set of origin countries studying in a set of 13 OECD countries, we assess the importance of the various factors identified in the theory. We find support for a significant network effect in the migration of students, a result so far undocumented in the literature. We also find a significant role for cost factors such as housing prices and for attractiveness variables such as the reported quality of universities. In contrast, we do not find an important role for registration fees. [less ▲]

Skilled migration and the transfer of institutional norms

in IZA Journal of Migration (2013), 2(9), 2-19

We examine two impacts of international emigration on the evolution of the institutions in the origin countries. The first impact concerns the influence of emigration per se (i.e. people who left the ... [more ▼]

We examine two impacts of international emigration on the evolution of the institutions in the origin countries. The first impact concerns the influence of emigration per se (i.e. people who left the country can voice more or less from abroad). The second impact relates to the transfer of the norms of the host country to the home country. The existence of both impacts is confirmed using different indicators of institutional quality. The effects appear stronger when skilled emigration is considered. The main conclusions are robust to alternative econometric methods and to the use of subsamples involving developing countries only. [less ▲]

THE NETWORK EFFECT IN International Migration

Report (2013)

Financial Integration and Remittances

in Regional Science and Urban Economics (2012), 42(5),

Migrant remittances increased strongly since the 1980s, becoming an important and reliable source of funds for many developing countries. Therefore, there is a strong incentive for receiving countries to ... [more ▼]

Migrant remittances increased strongly since the 1980s, becoming an important and reliable source of funds for many developing countries. Therefore, there is a strong incentive for receiving countries to attract more remittances, especially through formal channels that turn out to be either less expensive and/or less risky than informal ones. One way of doing so is to increase their country's financial openness, but this policy option might also generate additional costs in terms of macroeconomic volatility. In this paper we investigate the link between remittance receipts and financial openness. We statistically test for the existence of such a relationship with a sample of 66 mostly developing countries from 1980–2005. Empirically we use a dynamic generalized ordered logit model to deal with the categorical nature of financial openness policy. We apply a two-step method akin to two stage least squares to deal with the endogeneity of remittances and potential measurement errors. We find a strong positive statistical and economic effect of remittances on financial openness. [less ▲]

Integration and Stock Market Co-Movement between Emerging Economies

in Quantitative Finance (2011), 11(2), 299-312

In this paper, we investigate the impact of trade and financial liberalization on the degree of stock market co-movement among emerging economies. Using a sample of 25 developing countries observed over ... [more ▼]

In this paper, we investigate the impact of trade and financial liberalization on the degree of stock market co-movement among emerging economies. Using a sample of 25 developing countries observed over 15 years, we estimate the impact of reforms which aim at opening these countries to trade and financial channels to the rest of the world. The estimation of time-varying cross-country correlations allows the econometric investigation to be performed using a panel data framework, raising hence the quality of the statistical inference. Our results offer strong support in favor of a positive impact of trade and financial liberalization reforms on the degree of cross-country stock market linkages. [less ▲]

Diasporas

in Journal of Development Economics (2011), 95

Migration flows are shaped by a complex combination of self-selection and out-selection mechanisms, both of which are affected by the presence of a diaspora abroad. In this paper, we analyze how existing ... [more ▼]

Migration flows are shaped by a complex combination of self-selection and out-selection mechanisms, both of which are affected by the presence of a diaspora abroad. In this paper, we analyze how existing diasporas (the stock of people born in a country and living in another one) affect the size and human-capital structure of current bilateral migration flows. Our analysis exploits a bilateral data set on international migration by educational attainment from 195 countries to 30 OECD countries in 1990 and 2000. Based on simple microfoundations and controlling for various determinants of migration, we found that diasporas increase migration flows and lower their average educational level. Interestingly, diasporas explain majority of the variability of migration flows and selection. This suggests that, without changing the generosity of family reunion programs, education-based selection rules are likely to have moderate impact. Our results are highly robust to the econometric techniques, accounting for the large proportion of zeros and endogeneity problems. [less ▲]

On the Robustness of Brain Drain Estimates

in Annales d'Economie et de Statistique (2010), 97

Recent theoretical studies suggest that migration prospects can raise the ex- pected return to human capital and thus foster education investment at home or, in other words, induce a brain gain. In a ... [more ▼]

Recent theoretical studies suggest that migration prospects can raise the ex- pected return to human capital and thus foster education investment at home or, in other words, induce a brain gain. In a recent paper we used the Docquier and Marfouk (2006) data set on emigration rates by education level to examine the impact of brain drain migration on gross (pre-migration) human capital for- mation in developing countries. We found a positive e¤ect of skilled migration prospects on human capital growth in a cross-section of 127 developing coun- tries, with a short-run elasticity of about 5 percent. In this paper we assess the robustness of our results to the use of alternative brain drain measures, de nitions of human capital, and functional forms. We nd that the results hold using alternative brain drain measures controlling for whether migrants acquired their skills in the home or in the host country. We also regress other indicators of human capital investment on skilled migration rates and nd a positive e¤ect on youth literacy while the e¤ect on school enrolment depends on the exact functional speci cation chosen. Finally, we nd our resuls to be robust to using the ratio of skilled to unskilled migration rates (instead of just the former) and to controlling for the demoraphic structure of the population. This [less ▲]

The Impact of Central Bank FX Interventions on Currency Components

in Journal of Financial Econometrics (2007), 5(1), 154-183

This paper is the first attempt to assess the impact of official FOREX interventions of the three major central banks in terms of the dynamics of the currency components of the major exchange rates (EUR ... [more ▼]

This paper is the first attempt to assess the impact of official FOREX interventions of the three major central banks in terms of the dynamics of the currency components of the major exchange rates (EUR/USD and YEN/USD) over the period 1989-2003. We identify the currency components of the mean and the volatility processes of exchange rates using the recent Bayesian framework developed by Bos and Shephard (2006). Our results show that in general, the concerted interventions tend to affect the dynamics of both currency components of the exchange rate. In contrast, unilateral interventions are found to primarily affect the currency of the central bank present in the market. Our findings also emphasize a role for interventions conducted by these central banks on other related FOREX markets. [less ▲]

Brain Drain and LDC's Growth: winners and losers

in Economic Journal (2007), 118

We present an empirical evaluation of the growth effects of the brain drain for the source countries of migrants. Using recent US data on migration rates by education levels (Carrington and Detragiache ... [more ▼]

We present an empirical evaluation of the growth effects of the brain drain for the source countries of migrants. Using recent US data on migration rates by education levels (Carrington and Detragiache, 1998), we find empirical support for the "beneficial brain drain hypothesis" in a cross-section of 50 developing countries. At the country-level, we find that most countries combining low levels of human capital and low migration rates of skilled workers tend to be positively affected by the brain drain. By contrast, the brain drain appears to have negative growth effects in countries where the migration rate of the highly educated is above 20% and/or where the proportion of people with higher education is above 5%. While the number of winners is smaller, these include nearly 80% of the total population of the sample. [less ▲]

Economic Integration and the Diversification of Regional Exports: Evidence from the Canadian-US Free Trade Agreement

in Journal of Economic Geography (2007), 7(1), 93-111

We investigate the impact of Canada–U.S. trade integration on the degree of export diversification of the Canadian regions. Trade integration is captured through the decrease of trade-weighted tariffs ... [more ▼]

We investigate the impact of Canada–U.S. trade integration on the degree of export diversification of the Canadian regions. Trade integration is captured through the decrease of trade-weighted tariffs that were boosted by implementation of the Canadian–U.S. Free Trade Agreement. We found strong evidence to support integration’s long-run impact on the patterns of absolute exports diversification. Significantly, this new finding remains robust to the exclusion of the primary sectors and to the potential presence of unit root in the data. Our results lead us to support a positive long-run relationship between trade integration and export diversification. [less ▲]