Dear Martin,

Of course it is an interesting topic. Myself I have written a paper on skilled migration (from Latin America into Europe) published in a recent book on Colombia. My research is qualitative-oriented.

However, I would suggest to frame your question better. Try not to use too many "valuative" words (such as "honestly", "obsolete", "utopy". I think best concepts to be used are "brain circulation" and "brain drain" (no "fuga de cerebros" like we say in Spanish. Also, I would suggest no to focus too much on the "failing" of "policies", rather better in proposing alternative ways based on your fieldwork and data.

I hope it helps.

Luis 

Dear Martin,

Not only is it an excellent idea but an important one. It's often the case that researchers may feel undervalued within their national borders, but I suspect that a design using sound quantitative econometric models will make it more impactful and geographically relevant. This will add a universality appeal to such research. I look forward to reading this work.

Best, 

Joe

Similarly to what Luis Garzon suggests - to point to alternative solutions and neutral terms, I would say that the work should be in the direction from drain to circulation, not vice versa, moreover that the economy of Latin America is in a better health than it was 30 years ago and there is certainly a growing migration wave of South Europeans to Latin American countries.  You can comment on trade between L. A. and Spain and how migrants have connections, social capital, etc. - how that will impact the economy of Spain. Some particular policies to mention are Chile's national program attracting business brains, the relatively easy access to Argentina (visa policies), the rise of Mexico and Brazil, investments in Central America.

The Institute for the Study of Labour (IZA) in Germany is a good starting point to look for skilled migration publications http://www.iza.org/en/webcontent/publications/papers. Papers published there were quite relevant for my own work.

Another major collection of skilled migration publications is the Metropolis network http://canada.metropolis.net/aboutus/aboutus_e.html - a Canadian based center with numerous offices both within the country and internationally. They keep archives of most of their past conferences, so it is possible to find presentations that may be helpful.

This is a very interesting issue, but you need to establish causality between migration, highly skilled or otherwise, and background factors such as the economic crisis if you want to be taken seriously. In other words, this is an issue better understood with qualitative evidence.

Dear all, 

thank you so much for your responses. I agree with your suggestions. First of all, I have to say that i am not specialized in social science, rather than engineering and medicine (neuroscience profile), so I am used to work with work with quantitative methods. Your comments have convinced me that a qualitative approach is more appropriated in this case (100% agree), but I wanna ask to you: is it possible a mixed approach or is it somehow tricky (maybe too many evidences to test?) I would argument this suggestion later with a more detailed explanation but of course it is related with the hypotheses to the tested and the sample data to be employed.

Querido Francesco, muchas gracias por los ánimos!

Dear Luis, many thanks for your suggestions. Ofc I will read your papers, I think that I can be inspired with that studies.

Dear George, I fully agree with your quotes and Mr. Cajal's description but I am not convinced that it could be applied also to politicians (at this moment ;)) 

Dear Josephs, I expect that this works goes on and to get results in a mid-term future! :)

Dear Hristina, ofc I would love to point out to alternative solutions and using neutral terms, but read again Cajal's quote and look at the Spanish research hundred years later.... how can I convince the community that direction flows from drain to circulation if it is not true? In other words, circulation is what is expected, but what if the strategy does not work and have drain? I guess that it would be difficult to address but I think the explanation could be also attractive (also hard to model). Thanks for references, I will have a look with more detail (btw, the second link does work :?).

Dear David, I guess that a causality relationship between migration and highly skill needs to be established at the first point. This should be the starting point, so if it is not evidenced somehow in the literature, I guess that this must be done first.

Dear Martin,

I have read hundreds of publications on migration and I can assure you that this is the direction in research - from brain drain to brain circulation. I understand your fears but research is not only and uniquely reality, it is there to suggest ideas. You can't just say that people will not return because now they are saying so. Spanish is an international language and there are many connections, migration in Spain may also offset the negative effects, even though partially. And if you choose to say this is the direction - from circulation to drain - then perhaps you need to consider the issue in terms of culture - why people do not want to return. I have the feeling that on a broader scale it may be also a European problem, not only a Spanish one - a crisis of skills mismatch. 

You may also look at Italy - Italians are also leaving but they have extensive networks, there is the importance of the family, cultural connections, and yet, unlike Spain, Italy has not conquered lands, so their position with regard to brain drain is worse, if you want to look at the issue in realistic terms.

You can mention particular regions where industries or sectors are attracting people. Several years ago Barcelona was attractive to European workers, I don't know what the current situation is. Then, there are issues concerning all countries alike - e.g. the scarcity of health workers.  

IZA publications http://www.iza.org/en/webcontent/publications/papers are for the most part written by economists and statistics are always an integral part of their migration research regardless of the methods. They are not simply copying statistics from other studies but including their own studies and commenting on them in math terms (or math within economics and statistics).

 You may also look at papers published by National Bureaus of Statistics (office or some other title). I believe you will find migration facts & figures as well as other reports on migration at the Spanish national statistics office http://www.ine.es/en/welcome.shtml 

Thanks for resources, Hristina.

Regarding the dynamics of migration in Spain, I  found a recent and interesting report of the Deutsche Bank (July, 2014), claiming an increase in the migratory flow accompanied by an increase in the migrants’ education level. It concludes that highly-skilled migration could act as a safety mechanism which seems to reduce the unemployment rate and mitigate outflow shocks values. Nevertheless, it suggests that 1) fears of a brain drain are overstated (this is logical if we account for the inflow associated with housing construction that Spain had before crisis), and 2) migration deficits would accelerate population ageing in the periphery. Given the ongoing high unemployment even for qualified young people in the periphery, it is argued that "taking a job abroad is obviously better for the youngsters than inactively staying at home". Moreover, a secondary question arises and is related with the highly-skilled waste, which in my opinion, could be associated with some structural deficits at the internal level. 

Although culture factors are not considered (this could be a tertiary but interesting question) and disregarding the direction of brain's circulation, I guess that immediate structural reforms need to be taken in order to protect spanish scientific value and human capital. As I commented before, this should be the primary motivation. 

https://www.dbresearch.com/PROD/DBR_INTERNET_EN-PROD/PROD0000000000338137/The+dynamics+of+migration+in+the+euro+area.PDF

I remember how several years back the Portuguese PM was ridiculed in the press for having advised just the same - that people should look for jobs abroad and go there if there are no opportunities at home. I do not see how his words were funny or unwise.

I believe that many people from Latin America choose to study at Spanish universities, so perhaps this is another idea - to find research papers on the attractiveness of Spanish universities. It is an example of brain circulation.

Hi all,

Considering your suggestions and to have a better characterisation of those resources (i.e., demographics, age, sex, year, destination country, migration reason, job, salary) , I have performed a short-survey directed to Highly-Skilled Spanish Migrants. 

I attach the new post.

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Conceptualising_Highly-Skilled_Migration_before_Great_Recession_in_Spain_Are_you_a_Spanish_professional_Are_you_abroad