Abstract
We investigate the relationship between remittances and migrants' education both theoretically and empirically, using original bilateral remittance data. At a theoretical level we lay out a model of remittances interacting migrants' human capital with two dimensions of immigration policy: restrictiveness, and selectivity. The model predicts that the relationship between remittances and migrants' education is ambiguous and depends on the immigration policy conducted at destination. The effect of education is more likely to be positive when the immigration policy is more restrictive and less skill-selective. These predictions are then tested empirically using bilateral remittance and migration data and proxy measures for the restrictiveness and selectivity of immigration policies at destination. The results strongly support the theoretical analysis, suggesting that immigration policies determine the sign and magnitude of the relationship between remittances and migrants' education.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 817-828 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Regional Science and Urban Economics |
| Volume | 42 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Sep 2012 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This research was jointly supported by the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and the World Bank (Development Research Group) . We are grateful to Leonardo Becchetti, Michel Beine, Giuseppe de Arcangelis, Yves Zenou and an anonymous referee for useful comments. We also thank the scholars and organizations who graciously allowed us to use their bilateral remittances data, and participants at the Third Migration and Development conference held at the Paris School of Economics in September 2010 for comments and suggestions. Frédéric Docquier and Sara Salomone acknowledge financial support from the ARC convention on “Geographical Mobility of Factors” (convention 09/14-019 ).
Funding
This research was jointly supported by the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and the World Bank (Development Research Group) . We are grateful to Leonardo Becchetti, Michel Beine, Giuseppe de Arcangelis, Yves Zenou and an anonymous referee for useful comments. We also thank the scholars and organizations who graciously allowed us to use their bilateral remittances data, and participants at the Third Migration and Development conference held at the Paris School of Economics in September 2010 for comments and suggestions. Frédéric Docquier and Sara Salomone acknowledge financial support from the ARC convention on “Geographical Mobility of Factors” (convention 09/14-019 ).
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| World Bank Group | |
| Association pour la Recherche sur le Cancer | |
| Agence Française de Développement |
Keywords
- Brain drain
- Immigration policy
- Migration
- Remittances
