Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/300992 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 17096
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Study abroad migration is the fastest growing international migration flow. However, the college completion rates of students from low-income countries are often modest in OECD countries, raising the hypothesis that these migrants are poorly informed about the costs and benefits of their decision. Our work tests this hypothesis by running a lab-in-the-field experiment where graduating high school students in Cape Verde are faced with incentivized decisions to apply for college studies abroad. Our results show that potential migrants react strongly to information about the availability of financial support and about college completion rates. Since subjects' prior beliefs on availability of financial support are overestimated, it is likely that study migrants need to shift their time from study to work after uninformed migration, which likely harms their scholar performance. Policies that inform potential migrants of actual study funding possibilities should decrease study migration flows but are likely to improve successful graduation.
Subjects: 
international study migration
lab-in-the-field experiment
education
information
uncertainty
JEL: 
O15
F22
J61
C91
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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