Our revised paper on nurse migration is finally out! We study whether the U.S's aggressive recruitment of nurses from the Philippines in the 2000s led to a "brain drain."

https://www.amherst.edu/system/files/Abarcar_Theoharides_2020_July_FINAL.pdf

Despite concerns that it did, we show that the migration of nurses *increased* the stock of such workers in the origin country. Using data on all migrant departures and postsecondary institutions, we show that:

1. Nursing enrollments increased massively in the Philippines.

2. Nursing graduations increased so much that despite the decline in licensure pass rates, we estimate that for each nurse migrant, 10 additional nurses were licensed in the country.

3. The supply of (private) nursing programs expanded to accommodate the increased demand for nursing degrees (figure here shows increase relative to low migration provinces)

The case refutes the usual refrain about brain drain, and highlights the importance of well-designed partnerships bet migrant-sending and receiving countries that can facilitate both migration and human capital accumulation, as suggested by @m_clem @helen_dempster @RebekahL_Smith

I’m honored to have this work joint with @ctheoharides. The careful analysis and analytic firepower in this research are hers. Definitely one of the stars of migration economics.