The economic effects of the migration of skilled workers from developing countries are highly controversial in the theoretical literature. Traditional models on the brain drain phenomenon stress the negative impact on growth, while new models introduce the possibility of a brain gain for labor...

We examine the empirical relationship between the migration rate of skilled workers and human capital formation in developing countries. In particular, we revisit Beine, Docquier and Rapoport (2007), who find evidence of an incentive effect. Our results suggest that an incentive effect is weak...

Recent evidence on the respective contributions of institutions and trade to income levels across countries has demonstrated that – once endogeneity is considered – institutional quality clearly dominates the effect of trade. We argue that overall trade is not the most appropriate measure...

We empirically analyse the impact of trade on income levels in the sub-Saharan Africa countries. The results indicate that the linkage between both variables is negative for these countries. This outcome may explain the negative sign of the Africa dummy in income (or growth) regressions.

We present evidence of the impact of input and output trade liberalization on establishment-level job flows. Using a longitudinal database containing the universe of manufacturing establishments in California from 1992 to 2004, we find that a decline in input or output trade costs causes job...