Remittances and the Brain Drain Revisited the Microdata Show That More Educated Migrants Remit More

Two of the most salient trends surrounding the issue of migration and development over the past two decades are the large rise in remittances, and an increased flow of skilled migration. However, recent literature based on cross-country regressions has claimed that more educated migrants remit less,...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Bollard, Albert
Other Authors: McKenzie, David, Rapoport, Hillel
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Washington, D.C The World Bank 2009
Online Access:
Collection: World Bank E-Library Archive - Collection details see MPG.ReNa
LEADER 01914nmm a2200241 u 4500
001 EB002099531
003 EBX01000000000000001239621
005 00000000000000.0
007 cr|||||||||||||||||||||
008 221013 ||| eng
100 1 |a Bollard, Albert 
245 0 0 |a Remittances and the Brain Drain Revisited  |h Elektronische Ressource  |b the Microdata Show That More Educated Migrants Remit More  |c Bollard, Albert 
260 |a Washington, D.C  |b The World Bank  |c 2009 
300 |a 37 p 
700 1 |a Bollard, Albert 
700 1 |a McKenzie, David 
700 1 |a Rapoport, Hillel 
041 0 7 |a eng  |2 ISO 639-2 
989 |b WOBA  |a World Bank E-Library Archive 
028 5 0 |a 10.1596/1813-9450-5113 
856 4 0 |u http://elibrary.worldbank.org/doi/book/10.1596/1813-9450-5113  |x Verlag  |3 Volltext 
082 0 |a 330 
520 |a Two of the most salient trends surrounding the issue of migration and development over the past two decades are the large rise in remittances, and an increased flow of skilled migration. However, recent literature based on cross-country regressions has claimed that more educated migrants remit less, leading to concerns that further increases in skilled migration will hamper remittance growth. This paper revisits the relationship between education and remitting behavior using microdata from surveys of immigrants in 11 major destination countries. The data show a mixed pattern between education and the likelihood of remitting, and a strong positive relationship between education and the amount remitted conditional on remitting. Combining these intensive and extensive margins gives an overall positive effect of education on the amount remitted. The microdata then allow investigation as to why the more educated remit more. The analysis finds that the higher income earned by migrants, rather than characteristics of their family situations, explains much of the higher remittances