January 2009

Writing on the World Bank People Move blog, Sonia Plaza reports that U.S. Census numbers show that non-natives residing in the U.S. are more likely to hold a masters degree than native-born U.S. citizens.* This leads her to ask the following questions in a post on "Brain drain" and the global mobility of high-skilled talent:

• What are the challenges for the U.S. in developing, finding, and retaining talent?
• Will foreign students continue to choose the U.S. as a place to study or will they prefer other countries?

But perhaps this is an outdated way of looking at the issue. Jane Knight, an expert on international education issues and a professor at the University of Toronto, recently described the migration patterns of the highly educated as a 'brain train'. This seems to be a better description of a globalized workforce than older notions of brain drain or even brain gain:

Many countries invest in major marketing campaigns to attract the best and brightest talent to study and work in their institutions to supply the “brain power” for innovation and research agendas. The complexities and challenges of academic and professional mobility should not be underestimated—nor should the benefits. But, it is impossible to ignore the latest race for attracting international students and academics for brain power and income generation. The original goal of helping students from developing countries study in another country to complete a degree and return home is fading fast as nations compete for retaining human resources.

Journal Articles, Papers, News, and Reports 

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao as optimistically predicted his country’s growth in 2009. Image credit: worldeconomicforum at Flickr under a Creative Commons license.

I've seen quite a few stories this week about the World Economic Forum, which is entering its last two days in Davos, Switzerland. Not surprisingly, accounts coming out of the annual meeting have reflected the gloomy state of a global economy in the midst of financial crisis. Seems the event's past reputation of being a party for wealthy people and celebrities has been replaced with politicians, average government workers and others discussing – as the 2009 event has been dubbed – "Shaping the Post-Crisis World."

A story that stuck out at me came from the New York Times, which quoted Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier, as optimistically predicting the country’s growth in 2009 at 8 percent. That’s pretty optimistic compared to many other economist predictions – some as low as 4 percent or less for the year.

CommGAP, in collaboration with the World Bank’s Demand for Good Governance Peer Learning Network and the World Bank Institute, organized a roundtable yesterday on “The Role of Media in Strengthening Governance.” Dr. Gerry Power, Director of Research & Knowledge Management at the BBC World Service Trust, presented examples from work done in Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone. World Bank colleagues Verena Fritz, Governance Specialist and a contributor to this blog, and Sahr Kpundeh, Senior Public Sector Specialist, served as discussant and chair, respectively. Participants included representatives from the media sector, civil society, and other international organizations.

Since the 1960s, much of the literature on the development impact of migration has focused on ‘brain drain,’ the emigration of qualified professionals from developing countries and the subsequent loss of skills (which occurs faster than the replacement rate).

In the late 1990s, the literature shifted from brain drain to ‘brain gain,’ exploring the potential benefits of skilled migration arising from remittances, return migration, creation of trade and business networks, and the possible incentive effects of migration prospects on human capital formation at home.  You can see an extensive review of these issues here.

The questions related to the global mobility of high skilled workers can be grouped into two areas:

1. Brain drain/gain, and the challenge of retaining and attracting high-skilled professionals such as doctors, scientists, and engineers; and
2. The contribution of the diaspora in fostering the transfer of knowledge, technology, and finance, including remittances. ( link to http://www1.worldbank.org/prem/PREMNotes/premnote123.pdf)

A new report from the U.S. Census Bureau on Educational Attainment states that “a larger percentage of foreign-born than native-born residents had a master’s degree or higher in 2007.”  Their numbers lead me to ask:

• What are the challenges for the U.S. in developing, finding, and retaining talent?
• Will foreign students continue to choose the U.S.  as a place to study or will they prefer other countries?

William Easterly has started blogging at Aid Watch, with the idea of being brutally honest when aid is not helping the poor, but also praising it when it is.

In his first comment a few days ago he was brutally honest with the president of the World Bank (where he spent sixteen years as a Research Economist).

A very nice addition to the blogosphere. Welcome!

For months, I imagined that I would write a post in the dead of winter describing my sufferings in the bitter cold. It is bitter cold: right now (10:00 am) it's -29°c. But I'm not suffering, at least not anymore.

At first, the cold was a major shock. If you're not dressed properly, you will definitely suffer. I remember walking to a meeting in December. I had a warm hat and a decent coat, but I had forgotten about my legs. In minutes, the cold bit sharply through my trousers, stinging the skin on my thighs until they went numb. I had to keep my hands in my pockets; even with gloves, my fingers turned to ice.

One weekend, it got down to -37°c, almost to the point where Fahrenheit and Celsius temperatures are identical (-40°c). I would not leave the house, or go near the windows and doors. I survived on rice and boiled eggs, and interacted with the outside world through text messages and the Internet. Thank goodness for Facebook.

The economic crisis is a global problem. The effects on developing countries are being felt, and are likely to get worse. Up to 90 million people could remain in, or be pushed into extreme poverty as a result. This means governments around the world are focusing as a matter of urgency on how to attract investment and create the best conditions for growth.

The role of business in development is not new. The private sector is the engine of growth in the poorest of countries, and that growth drives development. Jobs are the best way out of poverty, and nine out of ten jobs in the developing world are in the private sector. The private sector, of course, means not only big corporations, but all those market traders, entrepreneurs and farmers who sell their goods and services in the market economy.

That's DFID Minister Mike Foster writing on the Business Fights Poverty blog. Foster's post coincides with the release of DFID's Private Sector Development Strategy. Also check out materials from the launch event, held in London on January 20.

At the pace of development of Cambodia's economy, the pressure on these indigenous communities has grown quickly.

Last week, I joined a government team traveling to Mondulkiri, a little known province located some 500 km northeast of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. This was a long trip not only because of the distance, but also because of the quality of the road during the last couple of hours of the journey (although that will change quickly, as the road is being rehabilitated).

The province is really beautiful, with the road traveling first through a dense jungle and then arriving on more open hilly plateaus. The province has some very nice landscapes, as well as powerful waterfalls such as Boo Sra (see picture). We stayed in the provincial capital, Sen Monorum (which in Khmer means very enjoyable!), at one of the few hotels in the city. The whole province is very sparsely populated, with about two habitants per square kilometer.

Mondulkiri is one of the provinces with the highest proportion of minority groups (in fact "minority groups" are a majority of the population).

The Robert S. McNamara Fellowships Program awards fellowships to support innovative and imaginative post-graduate research in areas of socioeconomic development - specifically focusing on issues critical to improving the lives of the most vulnerable in society.

The Program provides support to young researchers from eligible countries working in academic and research institutions preparing a doctoral thesis. Research grants cover residence costs for a 5 to 10 month period in a renowned university or research center. The research must be carried out in a member country of the World Bank other than the applicant's own country, or country of residence at the time of application.

How to apply and contact information.

Deadline to apply is February 28, 2009. If you have any questions please contact directly the Program Office (contact information in the above link).

Good luck to those who apply.

Bill Easterly, author of the White Man's Burden, and many op-eds besides, has entered the world of blogging. Be forewarned, it looks like Aid Watch won't be pulling any punches.

Update: Shanta Devarajan, World Bank Chief Economist for Africa, responds to Easterly's post on Robert Zoellick's op-eds in the New York Times and the Financial Times. 

(Hat tip: Chris Blattman)