The Brain Drain and the World Distribution of Income and Population

CReAM Discussion Paper Series 0704, Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM), Department of Economics, University College London

27 Pages Posted: 7 Apr 2011

See all articles by Andrew Mountford

Andrew Mountford

Royal Holloway, University of London

Hillel Rapoport

Bar-Ilan University - Department of Economics; Stanford University

Date Written: 1997

Abstract

This paper models the evolution of the world distribution of income and shows that while the distribution of income per capita across economies in the world will be stable in the long run, the world distribution of population may be divergent. The paper then uses this model to analyze the impact of the current trend towards predominantly skilled emigration from poor to rich countries on fertility, human capital formation, and growth, in both the sending and receiving countries. It shows that in the long run, brain drain migration patterns may increase world inequality as relatively poor countries grow large in terms of population. In the short run however, it is possible for world inequality to fall due to rises in GDP per capita in large developing economies with low skilled emigration rates.

Keywords: Migration, Growth, Brain Drain, World Distribution of Income

JEL Classification: O40, F11, F43

Suggested Citation

Mountford, Andrew and Rapoport, Hillel, The Brain Drain and the World Distribution of Income and Population (1997). CReAM Discussion Paper Series 0704, Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM), Department of Economics, University College London, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1800599 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1800599

Andrew Mountford (Contact Author)

Royal Holloway, University of London ( email )

Royal Holloway, University of London
Egham
Surrey TW20 0EX
United Kingdom
+44 1784 443 906 (Phone)
+44 1784 439 534 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://personal.rhul.ac.uk/uhte/023/

Hillel Rapoport

Bar-Ilan University - Department of Economics ( email )

Ramat-Gan, 52900
Israel
+972 3 535 3180 (Fax)

Stanford University ( email )

Stanford, CA 94305
United States

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