| In this paper I empirically evaluate the impact of "push and pull" drivers of physician emigration from developing countries. I examine the extent to which emigration rates and physician densities respond to economic factors such as wage differentials, economic decline, national provision of health services, and national safety and security. Overall, GDP per capita, government spending, being a former British colony, and physician density in 1991 make a significant impact on the physician emigration rate.;The final section of the paper is a case study of Canada's reliance on internationally-trained labour. Few of Canada's immigrant physicians were trained in developing countries; however the vast majority were trained in countries with lower physician density than Canada. Considering the cost of Canada's health system, to train a stock of physicians equivalent to those internationally-trained would be an additional strain on the national health budget of approximately 0.35%. |
