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Globalisation, the Mobility of Skilled Workers, and Economic Growth: Constructing a Novel Brain Drain/Gain Index for European Countries

Author

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  • Qiantao A. Zhang

    (University of Toronto
    Trinity College Dublin)

  • Brian M. Lucey

    (Trinity College Dublin
    University of Ljubljana)

Abstract

In the knowledge-based economy, skilled workers can create ideas and innovations, as well as leverage economic growth. While there is a large body of literature examining how the mobility of skilled workers influences the economic growth of countries, little research focuses on national differences between countries, a gap this study aims to plug. This paper constructs a novel brain drain/gain index to examine the extent of mobility of skilled workers in 30 European countries between 2001 and 2015. It is found that economically advanced countries are more likely to be net recipient of tertiary graduates, while less developed countries tend to lose their highly educated workers. In addition, the 2008 economic crisis exacerbates the gap between countries in their performance of retaining and attracting skilled workers. Nevertheless, the picture of graduate mobility is rather complicated with many notable outliers, and there are a number of directions for future research.

Suggested Citation

  • Qiantao A. Zhang & Brian M. Lucey, 2019. "Globalisation, the Mobility of Skilled Workers, and Economic Growth: Constructing a Novel Brain Drain/Gain Index for European Countries," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 10(4), pages 1620-1642, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:jknowl:v:10:y:2019:i:4:d:10.1007_s13132-017-0505-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s13132-017-0505-x
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    Cited by:

    1. Akira Shimada, 2021. "Does The Host Country Experience The Brain Drain Or The Brain Gain By Accepting Study Migrants?," Economy & Business Journal, International Scientific Publications, Bulgaria, vol. 15(1), pages 260-277.
    2. Songyue Lin & Jin Liu & Wenjing Lyu, 2024. "Who is more popular in the faculty recruitment of Chinese elite universities: overseas returnees or domestic graduates?," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-15, December.
    3. Emon Kalyan Chowdhury & Bablu Kumar Dhar & Md.Abu Issa Gazi, 2023. "Impact of Remittance on Economic Progress: Evidence from Low-Income Asian Frontier Countries," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 14(1), pages 382-407, March.
    4. Jingyi Zhao & Chunli Wei & Jiang Li, 2023. "Is the research performance of Chinese returnees better than that of their local counterparts?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(5), pages 3091-3105, May.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Brain drain; Europe; Mobility; Skilled workers;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General

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