To access the full paper, download the PDF on the left-hand sidebar.
During the last decade, high-skilled migration has captured the attention of policymakers, academicians, the private sector, and nongovernmental organizations. This growing interest is due to the contribution of high-skilled migration to the economic development of both sending and receiving countries and to its relevance as a pool of qualified human resources in an era of talent shortage. In the specific case of Mexico, despite the traditional view of migration as a phenomenon taking place among the poorest and least qualified sectors of the population, the number of high-skilled migrants has been rising while the migration of Mexicans with a low education and socioeconomic level has decreased. The growing migration of high-skilled Mexicans has the potential to affect the relationship between Mexico and the United States because it creates both opportunities and risks. In this paper, I propose a set of questions that need to be answered in order to have a clearer picture of the current and potential implications of the increasing entrepreneurial migration from Mexico to the United States. The first section of this paper places high-skilled migration within the larger context of human mobility. The second section presents some figures about high-skilled migration in Latin America and specifically in Mexico; then the analysis centers on facts about entrepreneurial migration. The core section of this paper raises several clusters of questions about entrepreneurial migration that have been only partially covered or not considered at all. The purpose is to encourage researchers to answer these questions and policymakers to incorporate such research into their proposals. I will also suggest some of the practical implications of the answers to such questions.
This material may be quoted or reproduced without prior permission, provided appropriate credit is given to the author and Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. The views expressed herein are those of the individual author(s), and do not necessarily represent the views of Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.
