Editorial | Reversing the brain drain

Jamaica’s Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke is enjoying a big moment in the spotlight as the incoming chair of the board of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC), for the next 12 months.

Dr Clarke is the third Jamaican to hold this office, following in the footsteps of David Coore, in 1973, and Eric Bell in 1979.

Colleagues have praised Dr Clarke for his handling of the Jamaican economy through turbulent pandemic days. The announcement of his appointment said in part, “because of his great leadership and his ability to bolster public finances in his country, we are sure that his vision, commitment and leadership will also guide us in this process to renew and strengthen the IDB Group as the needs of our countries and the region currently demand”.

Among the dozens of people congratulating Dr Clarke on his appointment on social media was one gentleman whose hope was that the minister would not be poached away from his Jamaican job.

Sounds far-fetched? The writer’s concern is not misplaced, for this is indeed the Third World’s reality. The more successful one is, the more likely one will become a target of foreign recruiters and talent scouts. More than a decade ago, The Economist said that “talent has become the world’s most sought-after commodity”. And there is growing evidence that, post COVID-19, there is something akin to a global war for talent.

GRIM LESSONS

The legacy of migration and brain drain offers grim lessons of how the First World developed by colonial exploitation, continues to underdevelop poor nations, mired in foreign debt and experiencing trade deficits, which render them unable to pay attractive salaries or provide good, safe working environments. Understandably, people make the often-difficult choice of leaving home to seek a better life in thriving economies.

Yet, if we agree with the notion that knowledge is a critical component in the creation of wealth, then migration of skills is certainly one way to ensure that poor nations remain impoverished. Jamaica, more than her sister nations, has felt its impact. For example, only a quarter of its trained nurses remain at home. What is a Jamaica to do when more than half of its population with post-secondary education lives outside the island?

A boon in remittances is one of the spin-offs of migration, whereby migrants send home money to help improve the life chances of family members. The question is: when hospitals are emptied of its specialist nurses and STEM teachers abandon the classroom for overseas jobs, and IT experts move to North America, can this loss be mitigated by remittance?

Many international organisations, the IDB among them, are quick to point out the positives of remittance, even calling it a development tool. They argue, quite forcefully, that remittance is a welcome source of foreign exchange that provides macro-economic stability to help alleviate poverty. Can remittance be justly called a catalyst for development?

Policymakers have long been thinking about the kinds of prescriptions that could be applied to reverse brain drain into brain gain. So far, the solutions appear to have eluded them.

Europe has also been trying to find a model that would benefit both receiving migrants and countries of migratory origin. It’s called co-development and includes designing country-specific policies based on the migrants’ potential development contributions to their country of origin, as well as educating migrants and encouraging them to return to their country of origin.

We congratulate Dr Clarke, as we seem to be on a path of economic and social recovery. It would be a shame if such hard-won achievements were to become undone.