Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/84806 
Year of Publication: 
2011
Series/Report no.: 
ZEF Discussion Papers on Development Policy No. 160
Publisher: 
University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper develops a one sector, two-input model with endogenous human capital formation. The two inputs are two types of skilled labor: engineering, which exerts a positive externality on total factor productivity, and law, which does not. The paper shows that a marginal prospect of migration by engineers increases human capital accumulation of both types of workers (engineers and lawyers), and also the number of engineers who remain in the country. These two effects are socially desirable, since they move the economy from the (inefficient) free-market equilibrium towards the social optimum. The paper also shows that if the externality effect of engineering is sufficiently powerful, everyone will be better off as a consequence of the said prospect of migration, including the engineers who lose the migration lottery, and even the individuals who practice law.
Subjects: 
Heterogeneous human capital
Differential externality effects
Migration of educated workers
Human capital formation
Efficient acquisition of human capital
Beneficial brain drain
JEL: 
F22
J61
R23
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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