Open Workshop: The Impact of the Removal of Barriers to Labor Mobility on Human Capital Investment
The aim of the Open Workshop Series in Business and Management Studies is to promote top-quality academic and applied research in various fields of the social sciences. This is a unique opportunity for sharing knowledge and networking with local and international community members.
Speaker: Arkādijs Zvaigzne, doctoral candidate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, U.S.
A key determinant of investment in human capital is the expected returns to such investment. While globalization has increased the returns to education by providing access to wider and more prosperous labor markets, it has also increased the risk of brain drain. This work contributes to the debate on brain drain versus brain gain by examining the impact of EU accession on human capital investment in Latvia. EU accession provided Latvian citizens with free movement within the EU labor market, potentially increasing returns to education. Non-citizens, however, did not receive this benefit, creating a potential for differing returns to education. Using a difference-in-differences approach, this paper compares the impact of joining the EU in 2004 on citizens' and non-citizens' subsequent investment in tertiary education and their presence in the Latvian labor market. This study examines how differing returns to education, based on citizenship status and access to the EU labor market, influence human capital investment decisions.
Arkādijs Zvaigzne is a doctoral candidate in education policy and program evaluation at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He studies how higher education institutions and workforce development policies can help reduce inequality and foster development in Latvia and other post-socialist countries. He applies econometric and machine learning methods to evaluate the impact of various financial aid and workforce training programs on the outcomes of students and workers. He holds a master’s degree in higher education from the University of Pennsylvania.
Discussion moderated by Prof. Arnis Sauka.
Attendance is free of charge.
Please sign up for the seminar, by writing to arnis.sauka@sseriga.edu by October 9, 2024.
The aim of the SSE Riga Open Workshop Series is to:
- Foster cooperation between business and management researchers, practitioners and policymakers, as well as
- Promote academic and applied research in various fields of the social sciences, focusing on but not limited to entrepreneurship, marketing, management, public administration, and strategy.
Organised by Professor Arnis Sauka, the Centre for Sustainable Business at SSE Riga