Question

Discuss the following as a source of human capital formation

Expenditure on migration.

Answer 1

Expenditure on migration

Migration refers to the movement of people from underdeveloped or developing countries to t developed countries in search for better avenues. Migrations contribute to human capital formation as it facilitates the utilisation of inactive or underdeveloped skills of an individual. The cost of migration involves cost of transportation, and cost of living at the migrated places. Usually, the cost of migration is very high due to the high cost of transportation and high cost of livelihood in the developed countries. But still, people migrate in search of better job opportunities and handsome salaries. Migration of human capital helps the underdeveloped countries to acquire technical skills, efforts reducing methods and efficient ways of performing tasks. These skills and know-how are transmitted by the migrated people to their home country that not only add to the economic growth and development but also enhance the human capital of the home country. If the gains from migration outweigh the migration costs then it can be inferred that migration leads to better utilisation of human capital skills.