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Who is Afraid of the Brain Drain? A Development Economist’s View

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  • Hillel Rapoport

Abstract

In “Debating Brain Drain”, Brock and Blake (2015) discuss the pros and cons of high-skill mobility prevention to curb the brain drain from developing countries from a legal and political perspective. I complement this discussion with the insights from recent economic research on brain drain, globalization and development. Two main results are emphasized: the fact that educational investments are higher when high-skill migration is not constrained, and the role of skilled diasporas in promoting the integration of migrants’ home countries into the global economy. Both results strengthen the rationale for letting skilled people go.

Suggested Citation

  • Hillel Rapoport, 2017. "Who is Afraid of the Brain Drain? A Development Economist’s View," CEPII Policy Brief 2017-14, CEPII research center.
    • Handle: RePEc:cii:cepipb:2017-14
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Brain Drain; Migration; Globalization; Development;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F21 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Investment; Long-Term Capital Movements
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • F63 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - Economic Development
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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