Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP5934
Authors: Antonio Spilimbergo
Abstract: Do foreign educated individuals play a role in promoting democracy in their home country? Despite the large amount of private and public resources spent on foreign education, there is no systematic evidence that foreign educated individuals foster democracy in their home countries. Using a unique panel dataset on foreign students starting from 1950, I show that indeed foreign-educated individuals promote democracy in their home country, but only if the foreign education is acquired in democratic countries. The results are robust to reverse causality, country-specific omitted variables, and inclusion of a variety of control variables. The results are stronger for small countries.
Keywords: democracy; development; education; institutions; international students
JEL Codes: D72; D74; H11
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| foreign educated individuals (I25) | democracy in home countries (D72) |
| education in democratic countries (I24) | democracy in home countries (D72) |
| average level of democracy in host countries (O17) | democracy in home countries (D72) |
| number of students abroad (I23) | democracy in home countries (D72) |
| quality of democracy in host countries (O17) | democracy in home countries (D72) |