Catia Batista

In a recent BBC Business Daily interview, @catiabatista.bsky.social @NOVAFRICA discusses brain drain and brain gain, and the case of Cyprus.

This follows her Science article “Brain Drain or Brain Gain? The Impact of High-Skilled Migration on Origin Countries.”

🎧 www.bbc.com/audio/play/w...

Thank you to #EdmirFerreira #PedroFreitas @goncalolima.bsky.social #ZeinadaLeite #AnaBalcaoReis #FredericDocquier @marcelloperez.bsky.social #CarolineTheoharides for sharing their research with us!

Conference on #Migration and #Education - Sept 30

Join us online on Tuesday starting 11m GMT / 6am EST with interesting presentations and discussion throughout the day!

Watch live: www.youtube.com/live/geZISI-...

Program: bit.ly/4nJoXya

@novafrica.bsky.social @liser.lu @liser-cb.bsky.social

I talked to the #BBC about what some Southern European countries are doing to attract high-skilled emigrants back home - and also about the #BrainDrain vs. #BrainGain debate.

Thank you to @danielrosney.bsky.social for an interesting conversation!

Listen here: www.bbc.com/audio/play/w...

We're thrilled to welcome Roberto Hsu Rocha to @novafrica.bsky.social @NovaSBE !

We're thrilled to welcome @duncanwebb.bsky.social to @novafrica.bsky.social @NovaSBE !

Today's cool young researcher #econtwitter #econsky is @dunc_webb @NovaSBE
@duncanwebb.bsky.social who works on topics related to discrimination + human capital

Welcome, Duncan! We're thrilled to have you @novafrica.bsky.social @NovaSBE!

Looking forward to a brilliant start to this year's @novafrica.bsky.social @NovaSBE seminars!

Thank you!

Ungated version available here: catiabatista.org/wp-content/u...

Thank you, James!

The ungated version of the paper is available here: catiabatista.org/wp-content/u...

As noted in the REStat official page, the paper was accepted for publication already in October 2021, almost 4 years before it was out in print. But the revision process itself was not too long.

Is Mobile Money Changing Rural Africa? Evidence from a Field Experiment Abstract. Rural areas in sub-Saharan Africa are typically underserved by financial services. Mobile money brings a substantial reduction in the transaction costs of remittances. We follow the introduc...

Catia Batista, Pedro C. Vicente; Is Mobile Money Changing Rural Africa? Evidence from a Field Experiment. The Review of Economics and Statistics 2025; 107 (3): 835–844. doi: doi.org/10.1162/rest...

Ungated version available here: catiabatista.org/wp-content/u...

New paper out in @science.org!

“Brain drain” or “brain gain”?
Effects of high-skilled international emigration on origin countries

doi.org/10.1126/scie...

🚨 New Paper Alert

"Is Mobile Money Changing Rural Africa? Evidence from a Field Experiment"

By NOVAFRICA Scientific Directors & NovaSBE Professors @catiabatista.bsky.social and #PedroCVicente in print in The Review of Economics and Statistics @restatjournal.bsky.social

📄 doi.org/10.1162/rest...

We also find that mobile money availability led to a 4.4pp decline in agricultural activity and a 6.5pp drop in agricultural investment after two years.

Mobile money is doing more than just lowering transfer costs: it can act as a driver for urbanization and structural change in Sub-Saharan Africa

We ran a randomized field experiment introducing mobile money in rural Mozambique.

Treated households were up to 14.5pp more likely to have a migrant after 2 years.

Why? Cheaper, safer and faster remittances allowed rural households to out-send migrants while staying insured.

Our paper "Is Mobile Money Changing Rural Africa? Evidence from a Field Experiment" is now in print in the Review of Economics and Statistics!

Main finding? Mobile money increased out-migration from rural areas and reduced agricultural investment.

🔗 doi.org/10.1162/rest...

Brain drain or brain gain? Effects of high-skilled international emigration on origin countries How does emigration of highly educated citizens of low-income countries to high-income countries affect the economies of the origin countries? The direct effect is “brain drain”—a decrease in the coun...

his discussion was based on our @science.org article together with brilliant co-authors: @danielhan.bsky.social
@johanneshaushofer.com @econgaurav.bsky.social
@dmckenzie.bsky.social @mushfiq-econ.bsky.social
@deanyang.bsky.social

Read here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Thank you @talknormal.co.uk for a great conversation on the @voxdev.bsky.social podcast together with #CarolineTheoharides on our recent @science.org article.

The "brain drain" is only part of the story—skilled migration can benefit origin countries too.

🎧 voxdev.org/topic/migrat...

Weekly links July 11: brain drain, AI’s giving career advice, disappointing long-term impacts of women leaders in India, and more…

This week's links include more on brain drain, comparing AI and human chat on career advice for potential teachers, women leaders in India did not have long-run impacts, and more... blogs.worldbank.org/en/impacteva...

This week in development economics at VoxDev: 11/07/2025 This week we featured research on industrial policy, brain drain, climate conflict, and more...

This week we featured research on industrial policy, brain drain, climate conflict, and more...

Read a summary of this work here: voxdev.org/topic/week-d...

🎙️ In a recent @voxdev.bsky.social talk, NOVAFRICA Scientific Director @catiabatista.bsky.social & Caroline Theoharides discuss key findings from their @science.org paper:

“Brain Drain or Brain Gain? The Impact of High-Skilled Migration on Origin Countries.”

🔗 voxdev.org/topic/migrat...

🆕 Why ‘Brain Drain’ is an incomplete story of migration 📢

Today on VoxDevTalks, @catiabatista.bsky.social (@novafrica.bsky.social) & Caroline Theoharides (Amherst College) discuss the channels through which emigration can benefit origin countries: voxdev.org/topic/migrat...

Is Mobile Money Changing Rural Africa? Evidence from a Field Experiment Abstract. Rural areas in sub-Saharan Africa are typically underserved by financial services. Mobile money brings a substantial reduction in the transaction costs of remittances. We follow the introduction of mobile money for the first time in rural villages of Mozambique using a randomized field experiment. We find that mobile money increased migration out of these villages, where we observe lower agricultural activity and investment. At the same time, remittances received and welfare of rural households increased, particularly when facing georeferenced village-level floods and household-level idiosyncratic shocks. Our work suggests that mobile money can accelerate urbanization and structural change in sub-Saharan Africa.

In the May issue, "Is Mobile Money Changing Rural Africa? Evidence from a Field Experiment" by Cátia Batista and Pedro C. Vicente zurl.co/2QJz7

🚨🚨🚨Blockbuster paper out today! Bear with me as I explain why this one is so important.

🤔 The *economic* anger about immigration is based on the false notion that immigrants take jobs or lower wages. A major misunderstanding behind this view is that immigrants only increase the supply of labor.

📣 Call for papers - 18th International Conference on #Migration and #Development

📅 Event held September 25-26, 2025 in Paris

🤝 With keynote's from: Paula Gobbi, @dmckenzie.bsky.social & @mushfiq-econ.bsky.social

⌛ Submit by July 15, 2025

#EconSky #Poverty #Inequality #Globalization

When Skilled Workers Go Abroad, Their Home Countries Experience ‘Brain Gain’ When skilled workers from poorer countries migrate to wealthy ones, there are benefits for the origin countries as well as workers and the host countries, according to new research co-authored by Yale...

insights.som.yale.edu/insights/whe...

"The countries that succeed are the ones that are able to create institutions that attract talent from wherever it happens to be born."

📢 Brain Drain or Brain Gain?

In a recent @Visao_PT interview, @catiabatista.bsky.social @NOVAFRICA @NovaSBE explains how high-skilled emigration can boost the development of origin countries.

🔗 Full Interview: visao.pt?p=2219198
📄 Science Article: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Brain drain or brain gain? Effects of high-skilled international emigration on origin countries How does emigration of highly educated citizens of low-income countries to high-income countries affect the economies of the origin countries? The direct effect is “brain drain”—a decrease in the coun...

Great new @science.org article by the rockstars of development economics looks at the evidence on the impact of skilled emigration on origin countries. TL;DR, it can be positive, but we need a *lot* more work in this area!

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

📢 New Open Call for #PhD in #Economics at NovaSBE!

Here’s the chance to apply for a #PhD focused on #DevelopmentEconomics!

Full funding, top faculty & collaboration with NOVAFRICA.

🔗 Apply by June 20, 2025:
www.novasbe.unl.pt/en/programs/...

#PhD #DevelopmentEconomics