Perspectives on "brain drain"

Hey, delegates!

I stumbled upon this article from the Economist that discussed the theory of brain drain. I found this comment by Elnathan John important,

“A lot of the argument around ‘skilled migrants’ is classist because it makes a distinction between the human value of skilled people and that of ‘unskilled’ migrants, whatever that means”.

I thought this was an interesting perspective, one that could be kept in mind when we frame our discourse regarding this topic. Should human value be placed on “skill”? What is “skill”?

Also, I wanted to discuss an article put out by the Center for Global Development discussing the benefits of “brain drain” from a home country. It emphasizes how emigration can benefit these countries through remittances—the flow of money from a foreign nation to a home nation—and through the potential return of emigrants. For this return of emigrants to consistently take place throughout generations, however, certain conditions must be put in place. This article outlines China’s policies directed to incentive emigrants to return home, describing how the Chinese government has set up recruitment firms to attract emigrants who have studied or worked abroad. According to the authors of this article, China has benefitted from this policy as the economy has further developed. It points out, though, that at the onset of this program, China already had a rapidly growing economy and relatively stable political system. Thus, returning as an emigrant is probably contingent on whether the home country has a level of political and economic security. These authors argue that migration and the flight of human capital is just a step in the development process and should not always be critiqued.

This topic has no clear answer. Is it fair to ask people to stay in a nation where their wellbeing could be threatened just because they are seen as an economic asset? How can we reconcile our vision for equality among nations and the rights of individuals? In committee, we ask you to propose solutions along the lines of your country policy. But, as you are doing your research, take time for yourself to think about the human-level impact about the topics we are discussing. According to certain country policies, it may not be appropriate to suggest some ideas in the scope of committee, but they are important to think about as they relate to the real world. In subjects like international relations and economics, sometimes we tend to minimize the experience of the individual and focus on the macro-scale. Statistics and trends about GDP and growth can tell us a lot, but they don’t necessarily tell us about levels of well-being, health, or inequality.