This paper builds on a new data set measuring emigration stocks and rates by educational attainment for all the world countries and most dependent territories in 1990 and 2000 (Docquier and Marfouk [2005]). We analyze the impact of the European Union on the international mobility of skilled workers. Compared to other oecd countries, the average skills of eu 15 immigrants are low. However, by attracting an important proportion of African migrants, the eu 15 plays an important role in the brain drain debate. The eu 15 is an important source of brain drain for countries which are strongly concerned by human capital shortages. This result is confirmed by Kernel density estimates. Regarding exchanges of skilled workers with the other traditional immigration countries, the eu 15 experiences a large deficit. This deficit is compensated by importing human capital from developing countries. On the whole, the net effect is very small compared to the large gains observed in the us, in Canada and Australia.
Classification JEL: F22, J61.