Brain Circulation Vs Brain Drain
When skilled labor emigrates from a country, it can be argued that it represents a loss of intellectual capital and resource to the nation. Certainly when professionals like engineers, doctors and nurses emigrate en masse, it can pose a real problem to a nation as these professionals help in delivering many critical services to the people of the country. Commentators have labeled this process of emigration of skilled labor as Brain Drain and the process of immigration of skilled labor to foreign countries as Brain Gain, denoting the gain of intellectual capital of host nations receiving this skilled labor.
But some have lately realized that Brain Drain is only one part of the story. The other part of the story relates to the social contacts and international experience the expatriates gain when working or studying in a foreign country. These experiences and social contacts are valuable resources for the country of origin of these expatriates, provided it is able to tap into them, and such a process is called Brain Circulation.
The story has been mixed so far. In some cases like Taiwan, Greater China and India, countries have profited enormously from brain circulation, while in others, brain circulation does not seem to happen in a significant way. Why brain circulation can be witnessed in certain contexts and not in others is a question that is at the forefront of research questions that academics are at present grappling with in this area of study.
Read more about this topic: Brain Circulation
Famous quotes containing the words brain, circulation and/or drain:
“...here he is, fully alive, and it is hard to picture him fully dead. Death is thirty-three hours away and here we are talking about the brain size of birds and bloodhounds and hunting in the woods. You can only attend to death for so long before the life force sucks you right in again.”
—Helen Prejean (b. 1940)
“There is probably not more than one hundred dollars in cash in circulation today. That is, if you were to call in all the bills and silver and gold in the country at noon tomorrow and pile them on the table, you would find that you had just about one hundred dollars, with perhaps several Canadian pennies and a few peppermint Life Savers.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)
“When we can drain the Ocean into mill-ponds, and bottle up the Force of Gravity, to be sold by retail, in gas jars; then may we hope to comprehend the infinitudes of man’s soul under formulas of Profit and Loss; and rule over this too, as over a patent engine, by checks, and valves, and balances.”
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881)