Brain drain, gain and circulation

While total global migration has been relatively stable as a share of world population, we are witnessing a rapid increase in the number of high-skilled migrants. After identifying interesting patterns revealed by the existing data, the chapter focuses on the economic impact on the sending, mostly developing, countries. The initial focus of the literature was brain drain and the potential losses of tax revenue and productivity spillovers in origin countries. More recent contributions, however, identified several channels through which high-skilled emigration might bring benefits. Among these are the brain gain (endogenous increase in human capital investment) and brain circulation and network effects (knowledge diffusion and global economic integration).