Studying abroad and international labour market mobility

Published on 27 March 2011

This column analyses how studying abroad affects labour-market mobility using the exposure to ERASMUS as an exogenous source of variation in studying abroad.

Is the ERASMUS scheme – where European students study for a year in a foreign country – just an excuse for a holiday or does it have some economic value? This column analyses how studying abroad affects labour-market mobility using the exposure to ERASMUS as an exogenous source of variation in studying abroad. It finds that studying abroad increases an individual's probability of working in a foreign country by about 15 percentage points.

    Authors

    Matthias Parey
    Matthias Parey

    Research Fellow University of Surrey

    Matthias is a research Fellow of the IFS, a Professor in the School of Economics at the University of Surrey and a Research Fellow at the IZA.

    Person graphic

    Fabian Waldinger

    Comment details

    Publisher
    Vox

    Suggested citation

    Parey, M and Waldinger, F. (2011). Studying abroad and international labour market mobility [Comment] Vox. Available at: https://ifs.org.uk/articles/studying-abroad-and-international-labour-market-mobility (accessed: 26 March 2025).

    More from IFS

    Understand this issue

    Policy analysis

    Rachel Reeves

    A look ahead to the 2025 Spring Forecast

    comment

    What are the Chancellor’s options if – and it is very much an if – the upcoming Spring Forecast puts her on track to miss her fiscal targets?

    6 March 2025

    Academic research