Topics to be Covered
The first presentation in this module reviews the many positive economic benefits of immigration from low-wage countries to high-wage countries. According to this lecture, “Wage Gains from Immigration,” such migration almost always causes the wages of the immigrants to rise substantially and also typically provides economic benefit to their high-wage host countries. The next presentation, “Is There a Brain Drain?”, introduces the phenomenon of high-skill worker emigration from developing countries, a common phenomenon across the developing world. In some small developing countries, up to half of the highly educated worker population can leave the country for high-wage destinations to work for some period of time. However, economists have found that such emigration does not necessarily harm the economies of the sending countries, as these immigrants’ departure may create job vacancies for others in their country of origin. In addition, the people who consider emigration are often driven to acquire more education and raise the level of education in the country upon their return. For these reasons, most studies conclude, the net economic costs of high-skill emigration are usually small. However, there are exceptions.
Learning Outcomes
After their introduction to the important topic of immigration, students will better appreciate the benefits and drawbacks of migration. They will be able to differentiate between the causes and consequences of high-skill and low-skill emigration and immigration for both sending countries and receiving countries.
