Summary

Analyses of the interrelated mobility of students and the highly skilled that consider its implications for fiscal policy, higher education financing, and economic development.

The mobility of students in developed countries has dramatically increased over the last fifty years. Students do not necessarily remain in their countries of origin for higher education and work; they might be born in one country, attend university in a second, and find employment in a third. In this book, contributors from Europe, North America, and Australia examine the interrelated mobility of university students and the highly skilled, and its consequences--in the country of origin, in the host country during studies, and in the work destination country--for fiscal policies, the financing of higher education, and economic growth.

Taking a variety of approaches, including formal modeling and econometric analysis, the contributors first examine evidence of the interrelationship between the mobility of students and graduates, especially researchers; investigate free-riding problems associated with mobility, including the provision and funding of public higher education; and address the effects of education policy on human capital accumulation and economic development, offering recommendations for well-designed policies in the presence of migration of talents.

Contributors
Nicholas Barr, Elena Del Rey, Susana Elena-Pérez, Gabriel J. Felbermayr, Ana Fernandez-Zubieta, Luisa Gagliardi, Marcel Gérard, Alexander Haupt, Tim Krieger, Thomas Lange, Elisabetta Marinelli, Richard Murphy, María Racionero, Isabella Reczkowski, Silke Uebelmesser, Linda van Bouwel, Reinhilde Veugelers, David E. Wildasin

Choice Review

The international migration of highly skilled workers has implications for national economies, aiding higher growth and innovation in host countries at the expense of the country of origin. This book focuses on how the rise in international college students (increasing from less than 1 million in 1975 to almost 4 million in 2009) has boosted high-skilled migration, and how education policy has both affected and been affected by these changes. Drawing on work presented at a 2012 conference, Gérard (Univ. of Louvain, Belguim) and Uebelmesser (Univ. of Jena, Germany) have edited a collection of essays that examines these interrelationships. Using international data and a range of empirical techniques, the authors lay out the dimensions and direction of student and worker mobility; identify the factors that make it likely that international students will migrate after graduation; and discuss optimal education policy strategies to address the impact of the migration of highly skilled workers on economic development. This volume presents useful information and analysis for students and researchers interested in the determinants and effects of the migration of high-skilled workers, economic development, and the financing of education. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduate students through researchers. --James M Burke, Mount Holyoke College