Emigration and its effect on Kenya's economic development through the duality of diaspora remittances and brain drain

Abstract

Globalization has impacted on nations, households and individuals in various ways. This is evidenced by the enhanced movement of factors of production - labour and capital- across international borders at much enhanced volumes than ever before. The movement of labour across boundaries, which is categorized as migration, has had profound effects, both on migrant receiving and sending countries. This effects can be categorized as brain drain in the migrant sending country, if the migrants are highly skilled or have achieved a high level of education. The receiving countries, on the other hand are said to experience a brain gain. One consequence of the movement of labour across international borders is that the migrants send a proportion of their earnings to their countries of origin. These earnings are called remittances, and they have become a significant source of international resource flows, together with FDI and ODA. The purpose of these paper is to investigate the effects of these two phenomena on Kenya''s economic development. The research suggests that whereas remittances do not have significant effect on Kenya''s economic development, brain drain is clearly costing the country. As such, the country should not only seek ways to promote remittances, but should also institute measures to stem the flow of human capital from Kenya, if the country is to achieve its long term development agenda.