ISAS Working Papers

Skilled migration has been the subject of much analysis and debate since the 1950s and 1960s. Eminent economists have time and again voiced concerns about the brain drain consequences of skilled migration and the erosion of human resource capacity in developing countries due to skilled migration. Such concerns have led to proposals for a "brain drain tax", that is, a tax on skilled migrants and for the establishment of a World Migration Organisation to manage migration flows in the interests of developing nations. While skilled migration continues and has been on the rise in the past few decades, the thinking on such flows has shifted significantly, away from the concept of brain drain to concepts of brain gain, brain exchange, and brain circulation. More and more countries are now looking at their skilled overseas diaspora as an asset that can be tapped for economic, social, cultural, and political gains. To a large extent, developments in the information technology (IT) sector and the diffusion of technology and knowledge that has been facilitated by diaspora groups in that sector, and the huge growth in remittances and investment flows from expatriate communities into many developing countries lie at the heart of this change in mindset. Hence, from preventing emigration of skilled workers, many governments have turned to examining ways in which they can leverage their diaspora networks and expatriate communities to their own benefit, in addition to exploring ways of better managing migration flows to serve their national interest.