IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/mdl/mdlpap/0919.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Brain Drain and Institutions of Governance: Educational Attainment of Immigrants to the US 1988-2000

Author

Listed:
  • James T. Bang
  • Aniruddha Mitra

Abstract

We use a fixed effects panel data model to investigate the impact of institutions of governance on the educational attainment of immigrants to the United States over the period 1988 – 2000. Distinguishing between the quality and stability of political institutions in the countries of origin, we find that the two characteristics of institutional structure have conflicting impacts on the nature of brain drain. Immigrants from countries with a higher quality of political institutions tend to be better educated, on the average, than immigrants from countries with institutions of lower quality. However, immigrants from countries with greater political instability tend to be better educated than immigrants from countries with more stable governments.

Suggested Citation

  • James T. Bang & Aniruddha Mitra, 2009. "Brain Drain and Institutions of Governance: Educational Attainment of Immigrants to the US 1988-2000," Middlebury College Working Paper Series 0919, Middlebury College, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:mdl:mdlpap:0919
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.middlebury.edu/services/econ/repec/mdl/ancoec/0919.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jasso, Guillermina & Rosenzweig, Mark R, 1990. "Self-Selection and the Earnings of Immigrants: Comment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(1), pages 298-304, March.
    2. Julian R. Betts & Magnus Lofstrom, 2000. "The Educational Attainment of Immigrants: Trends and Implications," NBER Chapters, in: Issues in the Economics of Immigration, pages 51-116, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Chiswick, Barry R, 1978. "The Effect of Americanization on the Earnings of Foreign-born Men," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 86(5), pages 897-921, October.
    4. Omar Arias & Walter Sosa-Escudero & Kevin F. Hallock, 2001. "Individual heterogeneity in the returns to schooling: instrumental variables quantile regression using twins data," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 7-40.
    5. Barro, Robert J & Lee, Jong-Wha, 2001. "International Data on Educational Attainment: Updates and Implications," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 53(3), pages 541-563, July.
    6. Docquier, Frederic & Rapoport, Hillel, 2003. "Ethnic discrimination and the migration of skilled labor," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 159-172, February.
    7. Christopher R. Bollinger & Barry T. Hirsch, 2006. "Match Bias from Earnings Imputation in the Current Population Survey: The Case of Imperfect Matching," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 24(3), pages 483-520, July.
    8. George J. Borjas, 2021. "Self-Selection and the Earnings of Immigrants," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foundational Essays in Immigration Economics, chapter 4, pages 69-91, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    9. Francisco L. Rivera-Batiz, 2018. "The Labor Market Effects of Immigration in the United States and Europe: Substitution vs. Complementarity," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Francisco L Rivera-Batiz (ed.), International and Interregional Migration Theory and Evidence, chapter 4, pages 47-74, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    10. Edward E. Leamer, 2007. "A Flat World, a Level Playing Field, a Small World After All, or None of the Above? A Review of Thomas L Friedman's The World is Flat," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 45(1), pages 83-126, March.
    11. Roger Koenker & Kevin F. Hallock, 2001. "Quantile Regression," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(4), pages 143-156, Fall.
    12. Linnea Polgreen & Nicole B. Simpson, 2006. "Recent Trends in the Skill Composition of Legal U.S. Immigrants," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 72(4), pages 938-957, April.
    13. Brati Sankar Chakraborty, 2006. "Brain drain: An alternative theorization," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(3), pages 293-309.
    14. Chiswick, Barry R. & Le, Anh T. & Miller, Paul W., 2006. "How Immigrants Fare Across the Earnings Distribution: International Analyses," IZA Discussion Papers 2405, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Cohen, Yinon & Zach, Tzippi & Chiswick, Barry, 1997. "The educational attainment of immigrants: Changes over time," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(Supplemen), pages 229-243.
    16. Grossman, Jean Baldwin, 1982. "The Substitutability of Natives and Immigrants in Production," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 64(4), pages 596-603, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Michel Beine & Khalid Sekkat, 2013. "Skilled migration and the transfer of institutional norms," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 2(1), pages 1-19, December.
    2. Michel Beine & Khalid Sekkat, 2014. "Emigration and origin country's institutions: does the destination country matter?," Middle East Development Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(1), pages 20-44, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fernando A. Lozano & Michael D. Steinberger, 2012. "Empirical Methods in the Economics of International Immigration," Chapters, in: Carlos Vargas-Silva (ed.), Handbook of Research Methods in Migration, chapter 8, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Chiswick, Barry R. & DebBurman, Noyna, 2004. "Educational attainment: analysis by immigrant generation," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 361-379, August.
    3. Bang, James T. & Mitra, Aniruddha, 2011. "Brain drain and institutions of governance: Educational attainment of immigrants to the US 1988-1998," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 335-354, September.
    4. Domeland, Dorte, 2007. "Trade and human capital accumulation: evidence from U.S. immigrants," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4144, The World Bank.
    5. Magnus Lofstrom, 2002. "Labor market assimilation and the self-employment decision of immigrant entrepreneurs," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 15(1), pages 83-114.
    6. Martin Kahanec & Klaus F. Zimmermann, 2008. "Migration, the Quality of the Labour Force and Economic Inequality," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 781, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    7. Angel de la Fuente & Antonio Ciccone, 2003. "Human capital in a global and knowledge-based economy," UFAE and IAE Working Papers 562.03, Unitat de Fonaments de l'Anàlisi Econòmica (UAB) and Institut d'Anàlisi Econòmica (CSIC).
    8. Francine D. Blau, 1992. "The Fertility of Immigrant Women: Evidence from High-Fertility Source Countries," NBER Chapters, in: Immigration and the Work Force: Economic Consequences for the United States and Source Areas, pages 93-134, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Daniel Chiquiar & Gordon H. Hanson, 2005. "International Migration, Self-Selection, and the Distribution of Wages: Evidence from Mexico and the United States," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(2), pages 239-281, April.
    10. Bönke Timm & Neidhöfer Guido, 2018. "Parental Background Matters: Intergenerational Mobility and Assimilation of Italian Immigrants in Germany," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 19(1), pages 1-31, February.
    11. Zhan, Crystal, 2015. "Money v.s. prestige: Cultural attitudes and occupational choices," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 44-56.
    12. Timothy J. Halliday & Michael Kimmitt, 2007. "Selective Migration and Health," Working Papers 200720, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    13. Ifft, Jennifer & Jodlowski, Margaret, 2016. "Is ICE Freezing US Agriculture? The Impact of Local Immigration Enforcement on Farm Profitability and Structure," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235950, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    14. Giovanni Peri, 2006. "International Migrations: Some Comparisons and Lessons for the European Union," Working Papers 158, University of California, Davis, Department of Economics.
    15. Ashraf El-Araby Aly & James Ragan, 2010. "Arab immigrants in the United States: how and why do returns to education vary by country of origin?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 23(2), pages 519-538, March.
    16. Sari Pekkala Kerr & William R. Kerr, 2011. "Economic Impacts of Immigration: A Survey," Finnish Economic Papers, Finnish Economic Association, vol. 24(1), pages 1-32, Spring.
    17. Crystal Zhan, 2022. "Wage distributions in origin societies and occupational choices of immigrant generations in the USA," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(1), pages 89-133, January.
    18. Abdurrahman Aydemir, 2003. "Are Immigrants Positively or Negatively Selected? The Role of Immigrant Selection Criteria and Self-Selection," Labor and Demography 0306002, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Barry R. Chiswick, 1999. "Are Immigrants Favorably Self-Selected? An Economic Analysis," University of Chicago - George G. Stigler Center for Study of Economy and State 147, Chicago - Center for Study of Economy and State.
    20. Guillermina Jasso & Mark Rosensweig & James P. Smith, 2003. "The Earnings of US immigrants," Labor and Demography 0312007, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Immigration; institutions; political instability; brain drain;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • 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
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:mdl:mdlpap:0919. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Vijaya Wunnava (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.