The Global Migration of Talent: What Does it Mean for Developing Countries?

Publication Info

Publication Type

• Briefs

Download

• Download (PDF, 639 KB)

Initiative

• Improving Migration Data

Research Topics

• Migration and Development

CGD Expert

• Devesh Kapur

Articles

• Think Again: Brain Drain (ForeignPolicy.com)
• CGD Migration Data Report Card
• Migration Statistics: Our Biggest Weak Spot (Reuters)
• Canada Beats U.S. in Knowledge of Newcomers (Toronto Star)
• Blue-Ribbon Panel Urges Five Steps to Better Migration Data -- Starting with Census (Press Release)
• Immigrants are an Engine of Prosperity (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• Migration Talk: Making Sense of a World on the Move
• Migration and Development: Temporary Workers are Key
• Let Them Come
• Migrating To Modernity [WP]
• Letters to The Editor: America's Nurses, And The World's (New York Times)
• Developing Lands Hit Hardest by 'Brain Drain' [NYT]
• Poor Nations Seen Pinched by Skilled Worker Losses

Multimedias

• The Biggest Idea in Development that No One Really Tried (video)
• Beyond the Fence (event)
• Brain Drain or Gain (Event)
• Migration and Development (Interview)

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Devesh Kapur and John McHale

10/13/2005

Human capital flows from poor countries to rich countries are large and growing. A leading cause is the increasing skill-focus of immigration policy in a number of leading industrialized countries—a trend that is likely to intensify as rich countries age and competitive pressures build in knowledge-intensive sectors. The implications for development are complex and poorly understood.

While fears of the "brain drain" were overwrought in earlier decades, the recent celebration of "brain gain" is also overdone, especially as highly selective migration policies deprive poor countries of scarce innovators and institution builders.

We explore available policy responses to improve the net effect on development without making the international migration system even more illiberal than it is today.