Losses and gains to developing countries from the migration of educated workers: an overview of recent research, and new reflections

This paper synthesizes and extends recent research on “The New Economics of the Brain Drain.” In a unified framework, the paper shows that while recently identified adverse repercussions of the brain drain exacerbate the long-recognized negative impact of the brain drain, longer-term consequences turn the brain drain into the harbinger of powerful gains. These gains have been studied already in recent research, or merit attention in future research. -- International migration ; Human capital formation ; Overeducation ; “Educated unemployment” ; Beneficial brain drain ; Social welfare