You need to take into account at least three effects:

1.-Direct (-): the loss of human capital due to your migration

2.-Direct (+): the remmitances you send back to your country.

3.-Indirect (+/-): if your schooling level is what made posible for you to migrate, it may have a positive effect on educational investments of other persons that would like to migrate. Sincé not all of them will actually migrate, the net effect on human capital could be positive. (see work by Oded Stark on this).

Thanks a lot Dr. Isidro for the response. The word "Migration" has mostly in the developing world (particularly in Africa) been associated with brain drain with limited emphasis been placed on the positive aspects (brain gain on return of migrants to the originating countries, individual or community (diaspora) investment in the originating countries, social and financial remittances, incentive to invest in education knowing there will still be some talents in there should some migrate, among others). So I wanted to know the views of academicians/professionals on this in order to be able to contribute my quota in the near future on this issue.

A specific person's impact depends on several factors: was this person necessary for the country (e.g. employed vs unemployed), will the person come back in the future and if not, then will the person still co-operate with the country's scientists etc. (e.g. write joint articles, participate in supervising PhD students...).

Thanks a lot Tiia for the response. A person may be highly talent but outside academia and in a developing country, where unemployment is quite high (implying unemployed in this case). Should the person migrate today (either he may return or not but with younger siblings back home to be taken care of), how would you access his impact on the brain drain-brain gain nexus

If unemployed people move abroad, then, to some extent, employed people who stay can gain (e.g. their salaries may increase) and, to some extent, the country can gain (it doesn't have to spend so much on feeding unemployed people, and it may earn more tax income if employed people will earn higher salaries). Also, it depends if the person who leaves is young or old: a country can gain more if old people leave (then they won't need hospital care etc. in that country). It also depends if the person who leaves got education for free (in this case, the country may lose) or had to pay for it.

Interesting response. Thanks a lot Tiia for the response. Your suggestions are well noted

Thanks! Also, in many cases, immigrants become active in business (partly because it is not always easy to find a good job abroad, partly as they want to do business) and then, both their previous and new home country may benefit: e.g. they import from Africa to Europe or send European tourists to Africa...

Thanks once again Tiia for the wonderful suggestions

Thanks a lot Joel for the interesting findings shared. I however am still confused with your point. Was the benefit for the originating countries or the destinations (thus which countries were the winners -originating or destination countries?) ...and what do you mean by former in your late lines?

There is a lively debate about this in the literature. I think this is the best author writing about the topic: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747-7379.2009.00804.x/abstract

Hi David,

Following Tiia's comments, I think it is important to note that “brain drain” and “brain gain” are not mutually exclusive realities, i.e., it can be a double win if those emigrating go back to their country of origin and invest there their acquired new social, human and economic capital. Return, however, depends hugely on the country of origin socioeconomic context and immigration policy. The case of Spain is relevant here: due to the severe economic crisis many highly qualified young people have emigrated to work in other countries and to avoid the mismatch negative mismatch between their educational backgrounds and their actual jobs and earning capacity. When asked about the possibility of returning to Spain they say that it will depend on what does Spain has to offer…

The issue of immigrant skill utilization has been very well studied in the case of Canada. Here there are some relevant references:

Reitz, G. Jeffrey (2001) “Immigrant Success in the Knowledge Economy: Institutional Change and the Immigrant Experience in Canada, 1970-1995”, Journal of Social Issues, 57 (3): 579.613.

Reitz, Jeffrey (2005) “Tapping Immigrants’ Skills: New Directions for Canadian Immigration Policy in the Knowledge Economy”, Immigration and Refugee Policy, 11: 1-20.

Jeffrey G. Reitz & Josh Curtis & Jennifer Elrick (2014) “Immigrant Skill Utilization: Trends and Policy Issues”, Journal of International Migration and Integration, 15 (1): 1-26.

I hope that this helps,

Dan

Dear Dr. David Boansi you have raised the world wide growing concern that has a very serious impact on economy, health, education, etc in the developing countries.Brain drain is defined as the migration of health personnel in search of the better standard of living and quality of life, higher salaries, access to advanced technology and more stable political conditions in different places worldwide ( Dodani and LaPorte, 2005).Yes you are right dear Dr. David Boansi . The majority of migration is from developing to developed countries.The main drivers of brain drain are:

• Better standards of living and quality of life,
• Higher salaries,
• Access to advanced technology and
• More stable political conditions in the developed countries attract talent from less developed areas.

So, addressing the aforementioned gaps can minimize brain drain from the developing countries.

Following!

This depends very much on the case. Often migration can lead to brain drain, but there are also plenty of case where migration helps the labour market, reducing unemployment for too many specialists in particular fields. In such cases the fields are still represented by a sufficient number of professional; the impact of migration then is more to reduce tension and frustration people have when competition is too much and jobs are not in the required numbers....

Another aspect is that migrants might also return and bring skills and experience they have acquired outside the country. This then could be called 'brain gain'.

There are even countries that support migration (e.g.the Philippines) as for the sending country migration has a number of benefits (remittances, skills upgrade, motivation of citizens to acquire skills that help them to complete internationally)

https://www.google.it/amp/s/www.researchgate.net/profile/Luca_Giovangiuseppe_Liminta/amp

Refer brain circulation literature.

Q: Does migration lead to brain drain or brain gain in the originating countries/regions?

A: This pretty much depends on the infrastructural conditions of the home country or region and whether what is advertised by a certain state is, in reality, implemented or just plain publicity stunt.

If a sending country has an established system that allows its outbound migrant workers to bring back and share the skills, technology and resources, then what initially is viewed as brain drain can easily become a brain gain. However, if the sending country prioritizes the remittances sent back home by its overseas workers but does not set up infrastructure to make this happen, then the sending-country is losing all what its overseas workers can offer but the cash remittances.

In the case of the Philippines that holds a long history of exporting its labor globally, since the 1970s, over time it has been able to set up various government agencies that would allow its outbound international migrant workers to bring back home skills, technology, resources and practices. It is important to note, however, the following:

• setting up the infrastructure does not necessarily mean succeeding in attaining the desired objectives, wholly or partially;
• what is publicly advertised does not always mean that it happens;
• or, if it happens, it does not always mean that it is always successful or is able to attain the desired results

Some efforts have managed to attain the goals, others have been implemented but still require some improvements, still several others remain to get to where they should be. Having said the above, it is crucial to look at each state effort to have a realistic assessment.

It is a yes and no. Yes it leads to brain drain if the people immigrate permanently and no if people immigrate and return. Even if they migrate permanently, they will educate people back at home and thus contribute to brain gain. So overall it leads to brain gain.