Social networks and study abroad — The case of Chinese visiting students in the US

摘要

Using a unique data set on Chinese visiting students in the US, we investigate some non-traditional determinants, especially social networks/connections, on the number of Chinese students hosted in American universities. Applying truncated, OILS, and GLS estimation, we find that social networks/connections have a strong positive and significant effect, and the result is robust across model specifications and estimation methods.