Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/35595
Year of Publication: 
2009
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 4005
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We collect data on the movement and productivity of elite scientists. Their mobility is remarkable: nearly half of the world's most-cited physicists work outside their country of birth. We show they migrate systematically towards nations with large R&D spending. Our study cannot adjudicate on whether migration improves scientists' productivity, but we find that movers and stayers have identical h-index citations scores. Immigrants in the UK and US now win Nobel Prizes proportionately less often than earlier. US residents' h-indexes are relatively high. We describe a framework where a key role is played by low mobility costs in the modern world.
Subjects: 
Mobility
science
brain drain
citations
JEL: 
O3
J6
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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