Gibson, JohnMcKenzie, David2012-03-192012-03-192011-05-01https://hdl.handle.net/10986/3431High-skilled emigration is an emotive issue that in popular discourse is often referred to as brain drain, conjuring images of extremely negative impacts on developing countries. Recent discussions of brain gain, diaspora effects, and other advantages of migration have been used to argue against this, but much of the discussion has been absent of evidence. This paper builds upon a new wave of empirical research to answer eight key questions underlying much of the brain drain debate: 1) What is brain drain? 2) Why should economists care about it? 3) Is brain drain increasing? 4) Is there a positive relationship between skilled and unskilled migration? 5) What makes brain drain more likely? 6) Does brain gain exist? 7) Do high-skilled workers remit, invest, and share knowledge back home? and 8) What do we know about the fiscal and production externalities of brain drain?CC BY 3.0 IGOADVANCED DEGREESAGEDANNUAL REMITTANCESBRAIN DRAINBRAIN GAINBRAIN WASTECAPITA INCOMECAPITAL FLOWSCAREERCAREERSCENSUS DATACHILD MORTALITYCHILD MORTALITY RATESCITIZENCIVIC PARTICIPATIONCOUNTRY PAIRDEFERRED COST RECOVERYDEGREESDEMOCRACYDESTINATION COUNTRYDEVELOPING COUNTRIESDEVELOPMENT POLICYDIASPORAEARNINGS OF IMMIGRANTSEDUCATED MIGRANTSEDUCATION SYSTEMSEDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENTEDUCATIONAL SYSTEMSEFFECTS ON DEVELOPMENTEMIGRATIONEMIGRATION LEVELSENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITIESEXCHANGE RATEEXCHANGE RATESFAMILIESFAMILY REUNIFICATIONFOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENTFOREIGN LANGUAGESFOREIGN STUDENTSFOREIGN WORKERSFREEDOM OF MOVEMENTFURTHER EDUCATIONFUTURE RESEARCHGLOBAL DEVELOPMENTGLOBAL HEALTHGLOBAL POPULATIONGLOBAL REMITTANCEGRADUATE EDUCATIONGROSS NATIONAL INCOMEHEALTH EFFECTSHEALTH OUTCOMESHEALTH WORKERSHIGH SCHOOL GRADUATESHIGH SKILLED MIGRATIONHIGHER EDUCATIONHIGHER INCOMESHIGHLY SKILLED EMIGRANTSHIGHLY SKILLED INDIVIDUALSHIVHOME COUNTRIESHOME COUNTRYHOST SOCIETYHUMAN CAPITALHUMAN CAPITAL FORMATIONHUMAN DEVELOPMENTHUMAN RESOURCESHUMAN RIGHTSILLEGAL MIGRANTSIMMIGRANTIMMIGRANTSIMMIGRATIONIMMIGRATION POLICIESINCOME TAXINFANTINFORMATION TECHNOLOGYINTERNAL BRAIN DRAININTERNAL MIGRATIONINTERNATIONAL MIGRANTSINTERNATIONAL MIGRATIONINTERNATIONAL TRADEJOB OPPORTUNITIESLABOR FORCELABOR MARKETLABOR MARKETSLARGE POPULATIONLEVEL OF EDUCATIONLIQUIDITYLIQUIDITY CONSTRAINTSLITERATURELIVING STANDARDSMACROECONOMIC LEVELMASTERS DEGREESMEDICAL PROFESSIONALSMEDICAL SCHOOLMIGRANTMIGRANT NETWORKSMIGRANT STOCKMIGRANT-SENDING COUNTRIESMIGRANTSMIGRATIONMIGRATION COSTSMIGRATION DATAMIGRATION DECISIONSMIGRATION FLOWSMIGRATION POLICYMINORITYNATIONALSNORTH MIGRATIONNURSENURSESNURSINGOPEN ACCESSPANDEMICPAPERSPATIENTSPHYSICIANSPOLICY CONCERNPOLICY DISCUSSIONSPOLICY RESEARCHPOLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPERPOLITICAL INSTABILITYPOPULATION CENSUSESPOPULATION SIZEPRESS RELEASEPRIMARY EDUCATIONPRIVATE EDUCATIONPRIVATE SECTORPRIVATE SECTOR DEVELOPMENTPROFESSIONAL EMIGRATIONPROFESSORSPROGRESSQUALITY EDUCATIONRECIPIENT COUNTRYREMITTANCEREMITTANCE DATAREMITTANCESRETURN MIGRATIONROLE OF MIGRATIONRURAL AREASSCIENTISTSCIENTISTSSECONDARY EDUCATIONSECONDARY SCHOOLINGSECONDARY SCHOOLSSELECTIVE IMMIGRATIONSEND REMITTANCESSKILL COMPOSITIONSKILL LEVELSKILL LEVELSSKILLED EMIGRANTSSKILLED LABORSKILLED LABOR FORCESKILLED MIGRANTSSKILLED OCCUPATIONSSKILLED PROFESSIONALSSKILLED WORKERSKILLED WORKERSSOCIAL SCIENTISTSSOCIAL WELFARESPOUSESSTUDENT LOANSTUDENT LOAN PAYMENTSSTUDENT LOAN PROGRAMSSUPPLY ELASTICITYTEACHERTEACHERSTERTIARY EDUCATIONTOLERANCEUNEMPLOYMENTUNIVERSITY DEGREEUNIVERSITY GRADUATESUNIVERSITY TRAININGUNSKILLED LABORUNSKILLED MIGRATIONUNSKILLED WORKERSUSE OF REMITTANCESVACCINATIONVIOLENCEWORKER MIGRATIONWORKFORCEWORKING MIGRANTSWORLD POPULATIONWORLD POPULATION GROWTHWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-5668