The Migration of Egyptian Human Capital to the Arab Oil-Producing States: A Cost-Benefit Analysis 1

The rate of return analysis is utilized to evaluate the profitability of exporting human capital from Egypt to the Arab oil-producing states from two alternative perspectives. A preliminary estimate of the internal rate of return from the perspective of the welfare of Egyptian nationals is extremely high in the case of Egyptian teachers in Saudi Arabia. From the alternative perspective of economic development in Egypt, existing gaps in the data make impossible at this time an accurate estimate of the rate of return. However, if Egyptians employed in the Gulf States were required to remit fixed portions of their income to Egypt and significant foreign transfer payments were received from the host countries, the migration of educated Egyptians would almost certainly be profitable from the second perspective as well.