Promoting return and circular migration of the highly skilled
Metka Hercog & Melissa Siegel
#2011-015
Migration of skilled workers from developing countries has increased
substantially in recent years. Traditionally, such patterns raised fears
on the ground of the associated 'brain drain' as human capital formation
is considered to be of central importance to the development and
reduction of poverty levels. Therefore, any loss of skilled workers
through migration was considered harmful to the achievement of
development goals. In contrast, the new body of literature emphasizes
the positive incentive and feedback effects which skilled migration has
on sending countries' development as well as on other stakeholders.
While most papers on the impacts of migration on development focus on
remittances and low-skilled migration, we emphasize the effects of
skilled return migrants which bring about the transfer of knowledge and
skills. This paper examines five levels of policy concerning the
mobility of skilled workers. Because of their differing positions, we
examine the position of sending and receiving countries with regard to
skilled migration separately. We look at receiving country policies,
sending country policies, bilateral approaches, regional approaches and
global approaches. This paper first explores what options are
theoretically discussed at the five levels of analysis. Secondly, we
observe what kinds of policies are actually used in practice and which
policies show some evidence of success. We also systematically discuss
the advantages and disadvantages (or limitations) of each policy option.
Key words: return migration, highly skilled, migration, immigration