Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Gilberto Antonelli
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Economics and SDIC, University of Bologna; AlmaLaurea Interuniverisity Consortium
Author-Email: gilberto.antonelli@unibo.it
Author-Name: Sara Binassi
Author-Workplace-Name: AlmaLaurea Interuniversity Consortium
Author-Email: sara.binassi@almalaurea.it
Author-Name: Giovanni Guidetti
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Economics and SDIC, University of Bologna
Author-Email: g.guidetti@unibo.it
Author-Name: Giulio Pedrini
Author-Workplace-Name: Interuniversity Research Centre on Public Services (CRISP) and SDIC, University of Bologna
Author-Email: giulio.pedrini3@unibo.it
Title: Assessing selection patterns and wage differential of high-skilled migrants. Evidence from the AlmaLaurea dataset on Italian graduates working abroad  
Abstract: This paper aims at investigating the phenomenon of graduates’ migration from an OECD country at microeconomic level in order to offer an insight into the scholarly debate on migration decision of high-skilled workers living in a developed country. By merging data on working conditions on Italian graduates with the results of an ad-hoc survey on Italian graduates working abroad, the paper  assesses the selectivity of migration choices, the wage premium associated to migration decision on their earnings, and the determinants of the earning function for those graduates that work abroad. Results partially confirms the applicability of the Borjas model on selectivity of migration choice. It also shows  the existence of a substantial wage premium associated with the decision to work abroad in line with an extended human capital approach. However, it also suggests a greater complexity of both the selection and the earning function of high-skilled workers, due to their longer and differentiated educational career, the stronger weight attached to preference variables, the degree of skills’ portability attached to university’s location and fields of study, and, in general, to the capability of a tertiary education system to provide their graduates with the skills required by international labour markets.
Length: 35
Creation-Date: 2016-12
File-URL: http://www2.almalaurea.it/universita/pubblicazioni/wp/pdf/wp76.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-Function: First version, 2011
Number: 76
Classification-JEL: J61, I26, J24
Keywords: higher education, migration, international labour markets, inequality
Handle: RePEc:laa:wpaper:76