Brain drain
The brain drain: what do we know?
Is the brain drain a curse or a boon for developing countries?
Authors:
F. Docquier; K. Sekkat
Publisher:
Agence française de développement , 2006
How are countries affected when their skilled and talented workers emigrate? This paper offers a comprehensive and updated review of existing studies on the brain drain.
It analyses the determinants, evolution and spatial distribution of the brain drain and finds that:
- controlling for the age of entry results in a better estimate of the brain drain
- average skilled emigration rates hide important shortages in developing countries, in particular those resultant from a medical brain drain.
The report investigate mechanisms through which the brain drain can positively affect origin countries, such as remittances, return migration and skilled migrants’ participation to business and scientific networks.
It also examines the implications of the brain drain for migration, education and taxation policies. Particular issues discussed include:
- an international ’tax on brains’ that would compensate the origin countries for the losses incurred as a result of the brain drain
- an immigration policy that selects immigrants according to their country of origin in order to minimize the losses (or maximize the gains) experienced by sending countries
- empirical relationship between education subsidies and migration prospects
- distortions in the provision of public education away from internationally applicable education towards country-specific skills.
