Evaluating the Causal Impact of Medical Brain Drain in sub-Saharan Africa: An Instrumental Variables Approach

Thesis advisor: Donald CoxI investigate the effect of the medical brain drain on health in sub-Saharan Africa. Such information would be invaluable to policymakers; if doctors are likely to emigrate, there is little benefit in investing in their training. Previous work has mostly been limited to measuring correlations, which fail to illuminate causal pathways; countries with weakly structured healthcare systems may have both poor health and high physician emigration. I address the problem with an instrumental variable. For African countries with historic colonial ties to the United Kingdom or France, I used immigration policy changes in these European nations to instrument for the medical brain drain. Higher rates of medical brain drain cause decreased physician density, decreased rates of measles immunizations among children, and increased rates of HIV prevalence in sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, I conclude that targeting physician emigration would help improve health in the region.Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2013.Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: College Honors Program.Discipline: Economics Honors Program.Discipline: Economics