Immigrant Selection in the OECD*

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the determinants of educational selectivity in immigration using immigrant stock data for 70 source countries and 21 OECD destination countries, as observed in the year 2000/2001. We develop a variant of the Roy model to estimate the determinants of educational selectivity. Two key findings emerge. First, the effect of the skill premium, which is at the core of the Roy model, can be observed only after we take into account the poverty constraints operating in the source countries. Second, cultural similarities, colonial legacies, and physical distance are often more important determinants of educational selectivity than wage incentives or selective immigration policy.

Return migration, human capital accumulation and the brain drain

“…We refer to θ sj as "prices" because, as we shall show shortly, equilibrium wages are proportional to these productivity factors. 5 Learning as a joint production was first introduced by Rosen (1972aRosen ( , 1972b. Willis and Rosen (1979), Borjas (1987) and Heckman and Honore (1990) discuss the two skill Roy model.…”

“…mobility even under conditions of certainty. 5 This richer framework is suited to explain migration and remigration between countries with different technologies and a different industrial structure. In particular, it can explain immigration patterns between developed and developing countries that are incompatible with the one skill model that is often applied empirically.…”

Out-migration, wealth constraints, and the quality of local amenities

“…4 Studies of internal migration that use aggregate inter and intraregional population flows also emphasize the existence of budget constraints (Phan and Coxhead, 2010, for Vietnam;Golgher, 2012, 2 Most theories on bilateral migration movements emphasize "pull" and "push" factors with a particular focus on the potential increase in the value of individual human capital (Sjaastad, 1962). Nonetheless, recent empirical research also demonstrates the importance of noneconomic factors such as distance and cultural links (Belot and Hatton, 2008), language (Adsera and Pytlikova, 2012), and demographic forces and network effects (Mayda, 2010). 3 See also McKenzie and Rapoport's 2010 analysis of migration networks' role in migrant selection with respect to education.…”

“…In addition, unlike most existing papers, which rely on aggregate data (see, e.g., Clark et al, 2007) or consider bilateral movements (see, e.g., Mayda, 2010;Belot and Hatton, 2008), we use micro level data and examine the variation across individuals for a large number of countries.…”

Networks and Selection in International Migration to Spain

“…, J(i)}, such that staying in the home country is always an option. 10 Define A izr to be the set of final migration destinations belonging to region r in country z, and A iz to be the set of regions belonging to country z, again from the viewpoint of individuals living in country i.…”