Sample Solution

The sheer income gap between the developed and developing countries incentivizes citizens of poorer regions to emigrate. In fact, a wider gap creates more economic pressure for people to migrate (Collier). According to the United Nations Population Division, in 2017 the United States had the largest number of international migrants (19% of the global total) while India experienced maximum immigration (16.6 million people living abroad)(2-3). The GDP per capita in USA is $65 thousand, whereas in India the figure is a mere $2.19 thousand (IMF). The vast gap between these figures creates an undeniable incentive for migration. Undoubtedly, the costs of relocating are high, but the presence of migrant communities— diasporas— of one’s own nationality makes the transition easier.

While it is easy to anticipate the reasons for migration, its economic impact is harder to analyze.

The first significant area of impact is a phenomenon popularly termed as brain-drain. Brain drain is the emigration of highly trained, talented and skilled individuals in search for better opportunities (Srivastava). This issue concerns several low and middle-income countries, since it is these skilled people that raise the productivity— and in turn wages and standards of living— of the unskilled labour in a region. Better trained people are able to improve institutions and are more innovative. This innovation and efficiency leads to better practices for work and increases productivity of even the unskilled labour— thus, giving the economy a boost. The lack of such people— who are often better educated due to