Dynamics in highly skilled Migration: A European Perspective

Abstract

This thesis contributes to the research in highly skilled migration and takes special interest in questions and concerns of the European Union. The research will look at the causes of migration and what factors cause the selection of migrants. In particular, it will present three empirical studies. The first analyzes the role of foreign education in the migration and subsequent integration processes. It investigates if the place of education has a uniform effect on migrants or whether there are selectivity differentials by place of education. The second studies the impact of selective migration policies and their ability to effectively over-ride existing migration patterns. As it becomes clear that there are persistent factors that reinforce migration patterns that have evolved over the past decades, the third study analyzes network effects and presents evidence of a multiplier effect that is new to the migration literature. It is evident that these questions are particularly relevant to the European Union (EU), which is a major player in international migration. The EU receives relatively low skilled immigrants compared to other major migrant destinations like the US, Canada and Australia, and migrant networks have reinforced these patterns due to strong historical linkages with many sending regions. At the same time, the EU looses large numbers of highly skilled people to other countries, particularly the US. This paradox, which taken to an extreme, would systematically reduce the relative skills level of workers in Europe, makes the EU an interesting subject for the study of highly skilled migration. Despite the evident link between the parts of this thesis, the chapters comprise papers that are independent from each other. The first paper (chapter 2) analyzes EU emigrants and looks at their assimilation patterns in the US labor market. The main questions asked regard their integration and performance. Does the EU loose its best and brightest? How transferable is their education to the US labor market? Is it valued internationally? Do EU educated immigrants perform differently than US educated EU immigrants? Are there differences in their performance resulting from the particular EU country they obtained their education in? The answers to these questions help the EU to better understand its emigration of skilled personnel. They shed more light on the characteristics of these emigrants, show how European education is evaluated internationally and contribute new insights on the transferability of foreign skills. The findings stress the high performance of some emigrants from some countries while others perform at comparatively lower levels. Overall, the study points out that the European education is well valued internationally and effort should concentrate on keeping these skilled people in the European labor market. The second paper (chapter 3) analyzes whether selective immigration policies are in fact effective in channeling skilled migration and if they can compensate for lost human capital in the EU. The analysis is based on new data from four EU neighboring countries, which is unique in the detail that it offers regarding the migration process. The study sheds light on determinants of migration pressures, the impact of immigration policies, the selection of immigrants and the determinants of destination choice. The findings confirm that one has to distinguish between self-selection and out-selection in order to understand the full selection process of migrants. The results stress that while selective immigration policies may indeed have their desired impact, the EU should nevertheless remain moderate in its expectations because other factors that reinforce migration, e.g. networks, may not be offset sufficiently by such policies. The third paper (chapter 4) picks up the dynamics of networks in migration flows by testing a previously disregarded diaspora externality, that is the effect of a counter-diaspora on migration flows. A theoretical model is developed and empirically tested based on new bilateral data, which allows analyzing immigrants moving to and within OECD, EU27 and EU candidate countries. The findings show evidence of significant counter-migration effects at the international level. Subsequently, the empirical estimates of the migration multipliers of diaspora and counter-diaspora serve to simulate the long run impact of exogenous shocks on migration flows. The net effect of the shock on the long run volume of bilateral net emigration clearly depends on the relative size of diaspora and counter-diaspora. For some countries a shock can reverse the pattern of migration from net emigration to net immigration, this is especially the case for attractive countries, receiving many migrants from abroad (United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Luxembourg or Switzerland).

Diese Dissertation befasst sich mit dem Thema internationale Migration hochqualifizierter Arbeitskräfte und behandelt Fragestellungen, die insbesondere relevant für die Europäische Union sind. Hauptanliegen ist dabei die Ursachen von Migration und Faktoren, welche Selektion von Migranten hervorrufen, zu analysieren. Nach einer ausführlichen Einführung in das Thema werden drei empirische Studien präsentiert. Die erste Studie analysiert europäische Auswanderer in den USA und behandelt die Rolle ausländischer Hochschulausbildung im Migrations- und Integrationsprozess. Es wird untersucht, ob das Land der Ausbildung einen einheitlich Effekt auf die Integration in den amerikanischen Arbeitsmarkt hat oder ob es Unterschiede aufgrund des Ausbildungslandes gibt. Die Ergebnisse erlauben Rückschlüsse auf die internationale Evaluierung europäischer Hochschulausbildung. Die zweite Studie analysiert den Einfluss selektiver Immigrationspolitik und ihre Eignung bestehende Migrationsmuster zu verändern. Migrationsdruck, Selektion und Determinanten in der Wahl des Ziellandes werden analysiert. Die Ergebnisse bestätigen eine Selektion durch Immigrationspolitik, machen aber deutlich, dass die Wirkung dieser Politik in der EU eher eingeschränkt ist, da andere Faktoren, wie zum Beispiel Netzwerkeffekte, die bestehenden Migrationsstrukturen verstärken. Die dritte Studie analysiert entsprechend Netzwerk- bzw. Diasporaeffekte. Es wird ein Model entwickelt, mit dem sich der Effekt einer Gegen-Diaspora auf Migrationsströme analysieren lässt—bisher wurden in der Literatur nur traditionelle Diasporaeffekte behandelt. Die geschätzten Migrationsmultiplikatoren werden zur Simulation von Migrationsschocks verwendet. Die behandelten Fragen sind von besonderer Bedeutung für die EU vor allem deshalb, weil die EU vergleichsweise gering qualifizierte Immigranten beherbergt, und gleichzeitig viele hochqualifizierte Personen an andere Länder und vor allem an die USA verliert. Dieser Zustand führt im Extremfall dazu, dass sich in der EU das Humankapital systematisch reduziert. Die Arbeit trägt zur Analyse dieser Situation bei und entwickelt politikrelevante Implikation aus den Ergebnissen der einzelnen Studien, welche in den einzelnen Studien sowie in einer gemeinsamen Schlussfolgerung gezeigt werden.