This paper examines ethnicity among highly skilled immigrants to the United States. The paper focuses on five classic components of ethnicity -country of birth, race, skin color, language, and religion - among persons admitted to legal permanent residence in the United States in 2003 in the...

We present an empirical evaluation of the growth effects of the brain drain for the source countries of migrants. Using recent US data on migration rates by education levels (Carrington and Detragiache, 1998), we find empirical support for the “beneficial brain drain hypothesis” in a sample...

This paper provides a micro-funded theory of multilateral resistance to migration analyzing how financial constraints determine migration trends. We build a RUM model in which we explicitly introduce the budget constraint in the migration decision: individuals cannot afford migrating to a...

We present an empirical evaluation of the growth effects of the brain drain for the source countries of migrants. Using recent US data on migration rates by education levels (Carrington and Detragiache, 1998), we find empirical support for the “beneficial brain drain hypothesis” in a sample...

Existing migrant networks play an important role in explaining the size and structure of immigration flows. They affect the net benefits of migration by reducing assimilation costs (’self-selection channel’) and by lowering legal entry barriers through family reunification programs...

We investigate the relationship between remittances and migrants' education both theoretically and empirically, using original bilateral remittance data. At a theoretical level we lay out a model of remittances interacting migrants' human capital with two dimensions of immigration policy:...

Existing migrant networks play an important role in explaining the size and structure of immigration flows. They affect the net benefits of migration by reduc- ing assimilation costs (’self-selection channel’) and by lowering legal entry barriers through family reunification programs...

This paper investigates the effect of U.S. border enforcement on the net flow of Mexican undocumented migration. It shows how this effect is theoretically ambiguous, given that increases in border controls deter prospective migrants from crossing the border illegally, but lengthen the duration...

Highly skilled immigrants to the United States (HSIs), particularly those with graduate degrees in science, engineering, technology, and math (STEM) fields, have helped catalyze innovation, economic growth, jobs, wealth, and advances in human welfare. America has been attractive to HSIs and...

Two predictable narratives dominate today's immigration debate. One version of the story involves “illegal aliens” who enter the country without permission, take American jobs, drain public resources, and refuse to acculturate. The other description involves “undocumented immigrants” who...