Talent Abroad Promoting Growth and Institutional Development at Home: Skilled Diaspora as Part of the Country

As developing countries embark on a policy agenda of innovation-based growth, they face an acute shortage of competent individuals who know the country well, but who are not part of the “status quo” and therefore have no vested interests other than the best possible country outcome. Paradoxically, the search for these individuals often leads to the country’s talent abroad—its skilled diaspora. The best and brightest, who are crucial for innovation, have often left the country in search of better opportunities. The usual policy focus—encourage return of talent to the home country—is often neither realistic nor necessary. Members of skilled diasporas can just as effectively engage in joint continuous projects with the home country without permanently relocating to it: a phenomenon called “brain circulation.”