Kiel Working Papers, Kiel Institute for World Economics
No 1811:
Migration and Education Aspirations - Another Channel of Brain Gain?
Marcus Böhme
Abstract: International migration not only enables individuals to
earn higher wages but also exposes them to new environments. The norms and
values experienced at the destination country could change the behavior of
the migrant but also of family members left behind. In this paper we argue
that a brain gain could take place due to a change in educational
aspirations of caregivers in migrant households. Using unique survey data
from Moldova, we find that international migration raises parental
aspirations in households located at the lower end of the human capital
distribution. The identification of these effects relies on GDP growth
shocks in the destination countries and migration networks. We conclude
that aspirations are a highly relevant determinant of intergenerational
human capital transfer and that even temporary international migration can
shift human capital formation to a higher steady state by inducing higher
educational aspirations of caregivers
Keywords: education, aspirations, migration, brain gain; (follow links to similar papers)
JEL-Codes: D03,; O12,; I21,; J61; (follow links to similar papers)
34 pages, November 2012
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