Measuring and assessing talent attractiveness in OECD countries

This paper introduces a new set of indicators aimed at benchmarking how OECD countries fare in attracting talented migrants. Three different profiles of talent are considered: workers with graduate (master or doctorate) degrees, entrepreneurs, and university students. After providing a definition of the notion of talent attractiveness, this paper develops a conceptual framework for the study of the phenomenon, and discusses the variables used to construct the composite indicators. Sensitivity analysis is performed in order to make sure the indicators are robust to several statistical checks. Finally, the paper documents the attractiveness of OECD countries to the different profiles of talented migrants.