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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Yaw Nyarko |
| Abstract: | Brain Circulation between the European Union (EU) and Sub-Saharan Africa is a crucial ingredient in Human Capital formation in the latter. A major constraint to African development is the very low base of skilled and highly educated workers and professionals. The production of skilled workers has been low, and only recently has seen a dramatic increase. Recent papers by many authors have indicated that a channel for human capital growth has been, paradoxically, the possibility of the brain drain which serves as both an incentive mechanism and which results in higher human capital when the drainers return. After a review of some of the literature, these insights are applied to the debates raging today on European Union migration policy: the Blue Card, Migration Con-tracts, anti-Brain Drain legislation, etc. This paper argues that a careful calibration of the EU policies may enable faster Human Capital growth in Africa, while, at the same time, being beneficial to the EU by supplying critically needed skills into the EU economy. By carefully planning the production of human capital and the consequent flow of skilled migrants into Europe, the EU can assist in the development of vitally needed numbers of trained or skilled workers in Africa. |
| Keywords: | Brain Drain, Immigration, Migration, Human Capital, Economic Development |
| Date: | 2010–04–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rsc:rsceui:2010/30&r=mig |
| By: | d'Artis Kancs; Pavel Ciaian |
| Abstract: | In 2009 the EU adopted a new migration policy instrument - the Blue Cards (BC) - for attracting highly skilled workers to the EU. The present paper examines the potential impacts, which BC may cause on the less developed sending countries (LDC). According to the adopted framework of innovative capital, the BC will reduce human capital in LDC. In addition, BC will also have a negative impact on knowledge capital. These findings suggest that the BC is not coherent with the EU’s development policy. Without appropriate policy responses, BC fade the developing country growth prospects away. In order to address the skill drain issues, we propose and examine alternative migration policy options for the LDC. |
| Keywords: | African sending countries, high-skill migration, EU Blue Cards, innovative capital, economic growth, LDC. |
| JEL: | F02 F22 J24 J61 O15 |
| Date: | 2010–08–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eei:rpaper:eeri_rp_2010_10&r=mig |
| By: | Seth R. Gitter (Department of Economics, Towson University); Jeremy G. Weber (University of Wisconsin-Madison); Bradford L. Barham (University of Wisconsin-Madison); Mercedez Callenes (Grupo de Analisis para el Desarrollo (GRADE), Peru); Jessa M. Lewis (University of Wisconsin-Madison) |
| Abstract: | From 1995 to 2005 educational attainment of youth in rural Southern Mexico rose dramatically. Three distinct trends emerged in the region that could explain the rise in education. First, thousands of coffee-producing households joined cooperatives that have entered Fair Trade relationships and/or began adopting organic practices. Then, beginning in approximately 2000, US migration took off, while intra-Mexico migration steadily increased, providing remittance income and more lucrative alternatives in labor markets outside of coffee production. Third, Progresa/Oportunidades, a conditional cash transfer program aimed at promoting education, became available to families in the region in 1998 and 1999. Using survey data from 845 coffee farming households in Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico, this paper explores how participation in Fair Trade-organic cooperatives coffee price premiums, migration, and Progresa/Oportunidades shape education attainment for young adults (16-25). Results from a household fixed-effects model show that participating in a Fair Trade-organic cooperative contributed to a one-half year increase in schooling for girls over the study period. The impacts of US migration opportunities appear to have even stronger positive impacts on years of schooling for females, while for males increased migration opportunities tend to diminish the positive effects of being in a Fair Trade- organic cooperative on educational attainment. |
| Keywords: | Latin America, Mexico, Fair Trade, Organic, Migration, Education. |
| JEL: | N56 I20 F22 |
| Date: | 2010–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tow:wpaper:2010-14&r=mig |