Is Emigration Harmful to Those Left Behind?

From the perspective of sending countries, international migrants are positively selected in terms of schooling, particularly in low-income countries. While emigration affects human capital accumulation, it also induces positive spin-offs in the form of remittances, incentives to acquire education,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAnnual review of resource economics Vol. 12; no. 1; pp. 367 - 388
Main Authors Docquier, Frédéric, Veljanoska, Stefanija
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Palo Alto Annual Reviews 06.10.2020
Annual Reviews, Inc
Subjects
Developing countries
economic development
Economics and Finance
Education
Emigration
growth
Human capital
Humanities and Social Sciences
LDCs
Net income
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Summary:From the perspective of sending countries, international migrants are positively selected in terms of schooling, particularly in low-income countries. While emigration affects human capital accumulation, it also induces positive spin-offs in the form of remittances, incentives to acquire education, and diffusion of technology and democratic ideas. The net income implications for those left behind are uncertain. This article reviews the main transmission channels investigated in the existing literature and uses a standard development accounting framework to provide estimates of their relative strength and of their combined effect. Although skill biased, emigration increases the disposable income of those left behind in no fewer than three-quarters of the countries of the world. This result is robust to variations in the set of parameter values within a reasonable spectrum established in the empirical literature.
ISSN:1941-1340
1941-1359
DOI:10.1146/annurev-resource-110419-125230