IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ces/ifosdt/v61y2008i04p03-18.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

"Brain drain" - does Germany offer too few opportunities for top researchers?

Author

Listed:
  • Margret Wintermantel
  • Matthias Kleiner
  • Jürgen Mlynek
  • Leonore Sauer
  • Herbert Brücker

Abstract

Is there an exodus of young German research talent, especially to the United States? Margret Wintermantel, president of the Conference of German University Rectors, sees a problem in the general conditions that determine the competitiveness of German universities. In her opinion a lot these conditions are not designed such that at German universities "the best" can win. In the opinion of Matthias Kleiner, president of the German Research Foundation (DFG), many positive developments have occurred in recent years so that the opportunities for top researchers are better in Germany than several years ago. For Jürgen Mlynek, president of the Helmholtz Association, the fear of a brain drain in Germany is justified: Germany is not doing enough to offer a dependable career outlook to junior science researchers. Efforts to offer fixed employment to foreign researchers are also insufficient. He sees a problem in the public-sector wage contract (TVÖD), which is to be replaced by a special academic contract that honours both mobility and experience in other institutions and permits stronger rewards for individual performance. Leonore Sauer, Federal Institute for Population Research in Wiesbaden, complains that despite widespread interest a sufficient data base is still lacking. A comprehensive examination of this subject is only possible for specific target countries or specific population groups. In the opinion of Herbert Brücker, Institute for Labour Market and Occupational Research, Nuremberg, Germany is not suffering from a brain drain but from an inadequate brain gain, as measured by the average qualification of immigrants.

Suggested Citation

  • Margret Wintermantel & Matthias Kleiner & Jürgen Mlynek & Leonore Sauer & Herbert Brücker, 2008. ""Brain drain" - does Germany offer too few opportunities for top researchers?," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 61(04), pages 03-18, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ifosdt:v:61:y:2008:i:04:p:03-18
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.ifo.de/DocDL/ifosd_2008_4_1.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Holger Bonin, 2002. "Eine fiskalische Gesamtbilanz der Zuwanderung nach Deutschland," Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung / Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 71(2), pages 215-229.
    2. Claudia Diehl & Steffen Mau & Jürgen Schupp, 2008. "Auswanderung von Deutschen: kein dauerhafter Verlust von Hochschulabsolventen," DIW Wochenbericht, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 75(5), pages 49-55.
    3. A. D. Roy, 1951. "Some Thoughts On The Distribution Of Earnings," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 3(2), pages 135-146.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Brücker, Herbert & Ringer, Sebastian, 2008. "Ausländer in Deutschland: Vergleichsweise schlecht qualifiziert," IAB-Kurzbericht 200801, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    2. Ismaël Mourifié & Marc Henry & Romuald Méango, 2020. "Sharp Bounds and Testability of a Roy Model of STEM Major Choices," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(8), pages 3220-3283.
    3. Bertoli, Simone & Dequiedt, Vianney & Zenou, Yves, 2016. "Can selective immigration policies reduce migrants' quality?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 100-109.
    4. Colin Davis, 2013. "Regional integration and innovation offshoring with occupational choice and endogenous growth," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 108(1), pages 59-79, January.
    5. Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda, 2012. "Targeted Subsidies and Private Market Participation: An Assessment of Fertilizer Demand in Nigeria:," IFPRI discussion papers 1194, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    6. François Fall & Akim Almouksit, 2016. "The impact of formal financing on small informal enterprises in Comoros," Working Papers hal-01566389, HAL.
    7. Josse Delfgaauw & Robert Dur, 2008. "Incentives and Workers' Motivation in the Public Sector," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(525), pages 171-191, January.
    8. Gordon Hanson & Chen Liu & Craig McIntosh, 2017. "The Rise and Fall of U.S. Low-Skilled Immigration," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 48(1 (Spring), pages 83-168.
    9. Galama, Titus & Kapteyn, Arie, 2011. "Grossman’s missing health threshold," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 1044-1056.
    10. Todd Pugatch, 2014. "Safety valve or sinkhole? Vocational schooling in South Africa," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 3(1), pages 1-31, December.
    11. Casey Rothschild & Florian Scheuer, 2014. "A Theory of Income Taxation under Multidimensional Skill Heterogeneity," NBER Working Papers 19822, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Alireza Naghavi & Chiara Strozzi, 2011. "Intellectual Property Rights, Migration, and Diaspora," Working Papers 2011.60, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    13. Michael Lechner & Ruth Miquel & Conny Wunsch, 2011. "Long‐Run Effects Of Public Sector Sponsored Training In West Germany," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 9(4), pages 742-784, August.
    14. Michael Gerfin & Michael Lechner, 2002. "A Microeconometric Evaluation of the Active Labour Market Policy in Switzerland," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(482), pages 854-893, October.
    15. Lex Borghans & Angela Lee Duckworth & James J. Heckman & Bas ter Weel, 2008. "The Economics and Psychology of Personality Traits," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(4).
    16. Kölling, Arnd, 2013. "Wirtschaftsförderung, Produktivität und betriebliche Arbeitsnachfrage - Eine Kausalanalyse mit Betriebspaneldaten -," VfS Annual Conference 2013 (Duesseldorf): Competition Policy and Regulation in a Global Economic Order 79843, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    17. Burt S. Barnow & Jeffrey Smith, 2015. "Employment and Training Programs," NBER Chapters, in: Economics of Means-Tested Transfer Programs in the United States, Volume 2, pages 127-234, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Paul Ellickson & Sanjog Misra, 2012. "Enriching interactions: Incorporating outcome data into static discrete games," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 1-26, March.
    19. Kristiina Huttunen & Jarle Møen & Kjell G. Salvanes, 2018. "Job Loss and Regional Mobility," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(2), pages 479-509.
    20. Alex Bell & Raj Chetty & Xavier Jaravel & Neviana Petkova & John Van Reenen, 2019. "Who Becomes an Inventor in America? The Importance of Exposure to Innovation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(2), pages 647-713.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ces:ifosdt:v:61:y:2008:i:04:p:03-18. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Klaus Wohlrabe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ifooode.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.