In response to recent findings regarding migration of health workers out of Africa, we provide data from a survey of Indian nurses suggesting that up to one fifth of the nursing labour force may be lost to wealthier countries through circular migration.

Brain Drain and Inequality Across Nations Is the brain drain a curse or a boon for developing countries? This paper reviews what is known to date about the magnitude of the brain drain from developing to developed countries, its determinants and the way it affects the well-being of those left behind. First, I present alternative measures of the brain drain and characterize its evolution over th...

The international mobility of healthcare professionals is a well-documented phenomenon that has dynamic effects on global healthcare, labor markets, and the world economy. One aspect of this phenomenon—the movement of international medical graduates (IMGs) to the United States for residency training is often criticized because of the “brain drain” from their home countries. We propose a differe...

Recent discussion leading up to the G8 summit brought welcome initiatives in addressing the debt burden of some poor countries. The meeting also addressed a hotly debated but less well-reported issue, the economic results of the ‘brain drain’ from poor to rich countries. Immigration has become a common phenomenon in the global economy, although immigration barriers are low for those rich in cap...

Increased attention has recently been paid to the phenomenon of the brain drain of skilled (and often unskilled) Africans from their home countries to countries in the West. In part this is because of the relatively large percentages of skilled Africans going abroad. It is also due to the increased focus on the economic development of Africa in general, and the concern that many countries in Af...

Remittances and the Brain Drain In most destination countries, immigration policies are increasingly tilted toward the most skilled individuals. Whether this shift hurts economic prospects in sending countries, as argued by the traditional brain drain literature, is somewhat controversial. The most recent literature has focused on the link between skilled out-migration and educational achieveme...

This paper reviews four decades of economics research on the brain drain, with a focus on recent contributions and on development issues. We …rst assess the magnitude, intensity and determinants of the brain drain, showing that brain drain (or high-skill) migration is becoming the dominant pattern of international migration and a major aspect of globalization. We then use a stylized growth mode...