The policy challenge of the global brain drain: addressing the dilemmas of contributing push-pull factors

Abstract

Recently, there has been an acceleration of the global 'brain drain' from developing to developed countries. The emergence of the global economy has been a key cause of many societies losing overseas some of their most talented and educated (i.e., highly-qualified) people. Local social and political as well as economic conditions have also made it attractive to work overseas. A combination of brain drain push-pull factors would need to be a policy focus of any government wishing to try and reverse the brain drain from their country. The paper will discuss the key push-pull factors and related dilemmas that might need to be addressed by any proposed government policies seeking to reverse the brain drain. In terms of a literature review linked to a discussion of examples, this paper thus attempts to answer three key related questions: what other factors as well as economic interest motivates talented people to leave their countries? What policies might governments in developing countries adopt to try to resist and even reverse the global brain drain? To what extent can an increasingly global circulation of 'talent' be reconciled with local, national and regional interests of brain drain vs. gain?