A Case Against Taxes and Quotas on High-Skill Emigration
45 Pages Posted: 25 Jun 2014
Date Written: May 1, 2014
Abstract
Skilled workers have a rising tendency to emigrate from developing countries, raising fears that their departure harms the poor. To mitigate such harm, researchers have proposed a variety of policies designed to tax or restrict high-skill migration. Those policies have been justified as Pigovian regulations to raise efficiency by internalizing externalities, and as non-Pigovian regulations grounded in equity or ethics. This paper challenges both sets of justifications, arguing that Pigovian regulations on skilled emigration are inefficient and non-Pigovian regulations are inequitable and unethical. It concludes by discussing a different class of policy intervention that, in contrast, has the potential to raise welfare.
Keywords: brain drain, migration, immigration, emigration, mobility, labor, skill, education, human capital
JEL Classification: F22, J24, O15
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation