With remittances expected to fall in 2009 as the financial crisis unfolds, the primary mechanism through which origin countries recoup the efficiency increases achieved by skilled migration will dissipate. But is there another mechanism, less direct but with long-term implications, through which migrants can benefit their home country.
The notion of the braindrain from developing to developed countries is not new. What is relatively new in the ’new brain drain’ or ’brain gain’ literature is its positive prognosis regarding the economic implications of labor market liberalization. Yes there is a brain drain and on the whole it is bad for development. But the migration of skilled workers need not be a zero sum game. That is, the gain of the host country need not inevitably translate to the loss of the sending country.