Understanding the Migration Patterns of Russian Academics through New Institutional Economics.

Thesis: The migration of Russian academics is influenced by their socialization. Understanding the mobility of academic labor can augment the attractiveness of countries or regions to which immigrants are drawn. Migration patterns were derived from an empirical web survey (level of significance >95%) of 500 Russian academics who migrated to Germany. The results indicated that their decisions were based on their specific values, which determined their perceptions of the transaction costs and benefits involved in international labor markets. New Institutional Economics (NIE) serves as a theoretical framework through which to understand academics’ decisions to migrate and illustrates that peripheral regions and small enterprises can attract well-educated workers.