It is now faster and cheaper for migrant workers living abroad to send money back home, thanks to digitalization. In many low- and middle-income countries, such inflows now exceed foreign direct investment and official development aid and thus can help prevent social unrest and balance-of-payments crises.
CAIRO – When former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was asked about the risks of “brain drain” – the large-scale and sustained migration of well-trained citizens from lower-income to higher-income countries offering better opportunities – he allegedly responded, “Better a brain drain than a brain in the drain.” Back then, in the 1980s, India’s universities were already churning out far more graduates than the country’s labor market could absorb, and developed economies, especially the United States, that sought to strengthen their comparative advantage in skill-intensive manufacturing welcomed these highly educated migrants with open arms.
CAIRO – When former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was asked about the risks of “brain drain” – the large-scale and sustained migration of well-trained citizens from lower-income to higher-income countries offering better opportunities – he allegedly responded, “Better a brain drain than a brain in the drain.” Back then, in the 1980s, India’s universities were already churning out far more graduates than the country’s labor market could absorb, and developed economies, especially the United States, that sought to strengthen their comparative advantage in skill-intensive manufacturing welcomed these highly educated migrants with open arms.