The Transitioning of Jewish Biomedical Law: Rhetorical and Practical Shifts in Halakhic Discourse on Sex-Change Surgery

This article examines discourse dynamics in Jewish law on sex-change surgery (SCS) and, in general, transitioning between genders. Orthodox medical ethics has moved beyond the abstract condemnation of SCS to the design of practical rules for transsexuals living in observant communities. The reasoning against SCS has also shifted, both in complexity and with implicit ties to Christian and secular tropes. By medicalizing or, conversely, spiritualizing the experiences of transgendered persons, a few Orthodox authors are opening up interpretive space for sympathetic responses to SCS. Such transitions reach their most elaborate expression in Israeli Orthodox rabbi Edan ben Ephraim’s 2004 monograph, Generation of Perversions, which has taken center stage in Orthodox deliberations on transsexuality. Overall, halakhic discourse seems to be moving in innovative, unavoidably interdiscursive directions

Skilled migration: the perspective of developing countries

The authors focus on the consequences of skilled migration for developing countries. They first present new evidence on the magnitude of migration of skilled workers at the international level and then discuss its direct and indirect effects on human capital formation in developing countries in a unified stylized model. Finally they turn to policy implications, with emphasis on migration and education policy in a context of globalized labor markets.Public Health Promotion,Economic Theory&Research,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Human Migrations&Resettlements,Voluntary and Involuntary Resettlement,Economic Theory&Research,International Migration,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Human Migrations&Resettlements,Voluntary and Involuntary Resettlement

Documenting the Brain Drain of «la Crème de la Crème»: Three Case-Studies on International Migration at the Upper Tail of the Education Distribution

Most of the recent literature on the effects of the brain drain on source countries consists of theoretical papers and cross-country empirical studies. In this paper we complement the literature through three case studies on very different regional and professional contexts: the African medical brain drain, the exodus of European researchers to the United States, and the contribution of the Indian diaspora to the rise of the IT sector in India. While the three case studies concern the very upper tail of the skill and education distribution, their effects of source countries are contrasted: clearly negative in the case of the exodus of European researchers, clearly positive in the case of the Indian diaspora’s contribution to putting India on the IT global map, and mixed in the case of the medical brain drain out of Africa.Brain drain, international migration, African medical brain drain, European brain drain, Indian diaspora

Documenting the brain drain of « la creme de la creme »: Three case-studies on international migration at the upper tail of the education distribution

Most of the recent literature on the effects of the brain drain on source countries consists of theoretical papers and cross-country empirical studies. In this paper we complement the literature through three case studies on very different regional and professional contexts: the African medical brain drain, the exodus of European researchers to the United States, and the contribution of the Indian diaspora to the rise of the IT sector in India. While the three case studies concern the very upper tail of the skill and education distribution, their effects of source countries are contrasted: clearly negative in the case of the exodus of European researchers, clearly positive in the case of the Indian diaspora’s contribution to putting India on the IT global map, and mixed in the case of the medical brain drain out of Africa.Brain drain, international migration, African medical brain drain, European brain drain, Indian diaspora

Network Effects and the Dynamics of Migration and Inequality: Theory and Evidence from Mexico

International migration is costly and initially only the middle class of the wealth distribution may have both the means and incentives to migrate, increasing inequality in the sending community. However, the migration networks formed lower the costs for future migrants, which can in turn lower inequality. This paper shows both theoretically and empirically that wealth has a nonlinear effect on migration, and then examines the empirical evidence for an inverse U-shaped relationship between emigration and inequality in rural sending communities in Mexico. After instrumenting, we find that the overall impact of migration is to reduce inequality across communities with relatively high levels of past migration. We also find some suggestive evidence for an inverse U-shaped relationship among communities with a wider range of migration experiences.Migration, remittances, inequality, network effects

Can Migration Reduce Educational Attainments? Depressing Evidence from Mexico

This paper examines the impact of migration on educational attainments in rural Mexico. Using historical migration rates by state to instrument for current migration, we find evidence of a significant negative effect of migration on schooling attendance and attainments of 12 to 18 year-old boys and of 16 to 18 year-old girls. IV-Censored Ordered Probit results show that living in a migrant household lowers the chances of boys completing junior high-school and of boys and girls completing high-school. The negative effect of migration on schooling is somewhat mitigated for younger girls with low educated mothers, which is consistent with remittances relaxing credit constraints on education investment for the very poor. However, for the majority of rural Mexican children, family migration depresses educational attainment. Comparison of the marginal effects of migration on school attendance and on participation to other activities shows that the observed decrease in schooling of 16 to 18 year olds is accounted for by current migration of boys and increases in housework for girls.Migration, migrant networks, education attainments, Mexico

The Brain Drain and the World Distribution of Income and Population

This paper models the evolution of the world distribution of income and shows that while the distribution of income per capita across economies in the world will be stable in the long run, the world distribution of population may be divergent. The paper then uses this model to analyze the impact of the current trend towards predominantly skilled emigration from poor to rich countries on fertility, human capital formation, and growth, in both the sending and receiving countries. It shows that in the long run, brain drain migration patterns may increase world inequality as relatively poor countries grow large in terms of population. In the short run however, it is possible for world inequality to fall due to rises in GDP per capita in large developing economies with low skilled emigration rates.