A joint study by specialists from the National Foundation for Economic Research and the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University (USA) showed that in the period from 1990 to 2000, the "brain drain" followed certain patterns. In particular, small countries on the periphery of industrially developed states suffer the most from the departure of qualified personnel. This group also includes former colonies, from which talent moves to the former mother countries. The activity of the drain process increases in the event of political instability in the homeland of the talents and the rise of nationalism.
In turn, a study by the World Bank, which analyzed data from 33 countries, showed that less than 10% of their citizens with higher education go abroad. The term "brain drain" applies only to five states (Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico, Guatemala, and Jamaica), where more than two-thirds of all educated people moved abroad (mainly to the US). In 2006, the International Monetary Fund published a similar study of 90 states. It reached a different conclusion: Iran suffers the most from the outflow of minds.
A study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development also revealed a "domino effect" in this area. For example, the "brain drain" of medical workers occurs according to the following algorithm: doctors and nurses from the UK leave for the US, where salaries are higher. Their places are taken by medical workers from Africa, and the places of Africans are taken by doctors and nurses from Cuba.
The International Organization for Migration estimates that currently about 300,000 African specialists work in Europe and North America. According to its assessment, up to a third of all scientists educated in poor countries eventually end up in rich countries.
In 2004, a group of demographers and geographers published the results of a large-scale study (Lindsay Lowell, Allan Findlay, and Emma Stewart, "Brain Drain"). One conclusion is shocking: almost one in ten holders of a higher education diploma was born in developing countries, while 30-50% of scientists and engineers born there now live and work in rich countries.
A study by the National Bureau of Economic Research of the USA showed that the "brain drain" now occurs not only because the standard of living in poor countries is low, but also because specialists have enough funds to finance their move to rich countries. According to the Bureau, a poor state invests an average of $50,000 in training each graduate of a local university. When he moves, this money is lost, but such losses are only the tip of the iceberg.
According to the African Capacity Building Foundation, every year about 20,000 highly qualified residents of the African continent go to seek their fortune in industrialized countries. One of the results is a chronic shortage of qualified personnel in African states, which slows down their development and worsens the situation in science, economy, medicine, etc. According to the Foundation, the departure of specialists leads to budget losses (those who left do not pay taxes at home), a decrease in the rate of creation of new jobs, and a reduction in the competitiveness of the local economy. Foreign specialists have to be imported from abroad and paid much more than local colleagues would receive. For example, according to the World Bank, African countries spend about $4 billion annually on salaries for foreign programmers, teachers, engineers, managers, etc.
The consequences of the "brain drain" from Africa, Latin America, and Asia also include the "erosion" of the middle class, considered the foundation of any modern society. As a result, the total losses from the departure of one specialist can reach $1 million, including indirect losses. As a result, it has become popular to compare the brain drain to a new type of colonialism: if colonies supplied raw materials to the mother countries and imported finished goods, now poor countries supply their specialists to the former mother countries, receiving in return products created by these specialists.
There are other aspects to this problem. An analysis by the Institute for Public Policy Research showed that the drain also leads to positive consequences. For example, some minds return to their homeland, bringing with them new knowledge, skills, and experience. For instance, more than half of Taiwan's high-tech companies were founded by Taiwanese who returned from the US. In China, most of the largest internet companies were founded by ethnic Chinese who also received education in the US. The Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at the University of California, San Diego concluded that the rapid growth of information technology in India in the 1990s was driven by the return of specialists who had previously moved to the US. Of the 20 largest software companies in India, 10 were founded by "American Indians," and another four companies were joint ventures. In these 14 firms, top managers became former emigrants. As a result, the return of "brains" to the homeland led to Indian IT companies now providing 7.5% of the country's GDP and creating more than 2 million jobs.
"Brains" often provide material support to their homelands. This support can be direct—for example, in the form of money transfers and parcels to relatives and close ones. The International Fund for Agricultural Development calculated that in 2006, approximately 150 million migrants working in industrialized countries transferred over $300 billion to their homelands. For comparison, international donors helping developing countries spent $104 billion on international aid programs in 2006, and the volume of direct foreign investment in these states amounted to $167 billion. According to World Bank estimates, natives of certain countries who hold high positions in other states often help open branches of international companies in their homelands.
In some cases, "brain drain" is also supported by the states that suffer from it. For example, in many underdeveloped countries, the ruling circles de facto encourage "drain" because this phenomenon washes potential political opponents out of society. Some countries have special programs that allow them to save money: for instance, the Philippines encourages the departure abroad of qualified specialists who are unemployed.
Oded Stark, author of the book "The New Economics of Brain Drain," also draws attention to other positive consequences of this phenomenon. For example, even in the poorest countries of the world, people intending to leave invest significant effort and resources in obtaining education or qualifications necessary to succeed abroad. This positively affects the entire education system of the country, i.e., it contributes to raising the educational level of the population. If the number of those who have gone abroad is less than those who remain, the situation in the country changes for the better.
Despite the fact that the consequences of washing specialists out of the country are not always bad, many states of the world try to counteract this process or manage it. According to the Institute for the Study of Labor, some countries now legally prohibit the departure abroad of certain categories of specialists—for example, doctors and teachers. However, this helps little: those wishing to leave have found and continue to find ways to circumvent the restrictions, for instance, by hiding the presence of their relevant diplomas.
An analysis by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development shows that many states use American methods to attract talented foreign youth. For example, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, France, and the United Kingdom have simplified visa requirements for foreign applicants, and in some cases exempt them from tuition fees. In addition, they facilitate the process of obtaining citizenship for graduates and their family members.
The Scandinavian countries, Germany, the Netherlands, and Hungary offer instruction in scientific and technical disciplines in English. Education in these states and the cost of living are often much cheaper than in the USA, Canada, and Australia. A number of European states particularly support foreign students receiving education in technical disciplines and grant them various benefits.
The United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, and a number of other countries have created special visa types for highly qualified professionals. For example, over the last three years, Japan has issued 220,000 such visas. Germany and Ireland attract foreign programmers, which is considered necessary to strengthen the local computer industry.
Across the entire European Union, it is planned to increase spending on science, which could potentially make it easier to employ talented graduates of local universities. The fact is that the EU spends less on scientific research than the USA and Japan (in 2005 – 1.9% of GDP, versus 2.8% and 3%, respectively). Increasing funding will allow the creation of hundreds of thousands of new jobs, which will attract "brains." Currently, more students receive education in the universities of a united Europe than in the USA and Japan. However, in the European Union, there are fewer scientists (in 2005, Europe had 5.4 research workers per 1,000 workers, the USA – 8.7, Japan – 9.7).
Asian states such as Singapore, Qatar, and Malaysia are following a similar path. They also use various methods to attract foreign students: Singapore, for example, has concluded agreements with leading US universities to open campuses of major American universities on its territory.
Currently, a quarter of foreign students studying abroad are from India and China. However, in recent years, these countries themselves have made serious efforts to attract talent. Both states have significantly increased allocations to universities. These countries are creating model universities (in China, there should be 100 of them), in which foreigners will not only be taught traditional "export" disciplines (e.g., Chinese language or Indian folklore) but also biology, information technology, etc. In addition, research work will be conducted in such universities, which will allow employing the most promising students and graduate students. These programs play a threefold role: first, they allow local universities to earn money; second, they attract foreign minds; third, they allow training their own specialists on site, in direct connection with the rapidly growing Indian and Chinese business.
In recent years, a new term has emerged — "scientific diaspora." Many states of the world try to use the knowledge, experience, and connections of their "brains" who have ended up abroad. Such initiatives are being undertaken by some countries of Latin America, South Africa, India, China, and even Switzerland.
The role of 'brain drain' in the fate of a state can be illustrated by the story of Qian Xuesen. This scientist is considered the father of the Chinese space program - China became the third country in the world, after the USSR and the USA, to send a man into space. Qian Xuesen was born in 1911 in China. In 1936, he went to study in the USA, where he initially studied aerodynamics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and then at the California Institute of Technology. During World War II, he served as an officer in the US Army, and after its end he joined the Scientific Advisory Board of the US Air Force. Even then, among his colleagues, Qian Xuesen had a reputation as a genius. In 1949, he proposed the concept of a shuttle - a space plane.
Qian Xuesen's career was ruined by the 'witch hunt' organized by Senator Joseph McCarthy, who was fighting the spread of communism. Xuesen was accused of communist sympathies (which he categorically denied) and, stripped of US citizenship, was deported to his homeland in 1955. In China, Qian Xuesen essentially built the rocket and space industry from scratch. Under his leadership, Chinese ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads and the first Chinese satellite were created. His work also became the basis for the construction of a manned spacecraft. Today, the Pentagon constantly expresses concern about China's military buildup - ironically, a former American scientist and military officer played an important role in this.