THE INCIDENCE OF NONRETURN AMONG FOREIGN-STUDENTS IN THE UNITED-STATES

This article presents a comprehensive conceptual and empirical analysis of non-return among foreign students in the United States. Non-return rates are constructed for 69 source countries using administrative microdata from the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (various years). The conceptual analysis extends the Roy-model formulation of Borjas (1987, 1992) to the return decision of the foreign student. The empirical analysis finds that the variation in non-return rates across source countries is explained by differences in economic and political conditions in the source countries. The article also reports indirect evidence of skill sorting among foreign students who stay in the United States.