Description
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This paper examines how the skill level of migrants (skilled or unskilled) affects the level of remittances sent home by international migrants. Using a variety of approaches, including instrumental variables, it finds that skilled migrants remit less than unskilled migrants. Since skilled migrants are more likely to bring their families and to spend more time abroad, their propensity to remit is less than that of unskilled migrants. The author concludes that the brain drain of skilled migrants going to work abroad is thus unlikely to boost the flow of remittances to developing countries.