Education and age at migration

Aísa, R., J. Cabeza, G. Larramona (2014). Education and age at migration, Optimal Control, Applications and Method, DOI: 10.1002/oca.2078.

We have designed a three-stage optimal control problem that endogenously determines age at migration and level of education. The combination of social and economic factors related to migration allows us to detect different patterns in the age at migration and the level of schooling. Our main finding is the negative relationship between these two variables. We can say that host countries may be more interested in higher-skilled workers, not only because of their human capital, but also because the migrants are younger. Immigration policies based on human capital selection provide younger and more qualified workers who, apart from being more productive, contribute longer to the economy of the host country, facilitating assimilation, and alleviating the ageing phenomenon commonly found in advanced host economies.

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