Beyond Brain Drain

The past decades have witnessed an increase in the pace and a consolidation of immigration of medical doctors and the globalization of the health system. If properly managed, globalization of the health workforce could lead to perceptible gains in health status for all parties involved. In a world economy shaped by strong institutions, globalization could benefit those countries with a strong and human and physical capital. This chapter reviews the importance of immigration and aims at presenting different views on immigration of medical doctors. While the traditional view has been dominated by the rhetoric on “brain-drain,” a new and more promising thread of research has centered on the relatively new concept of “brain-circulation.” Mobility for medical workers and health workers, in general, can be a significant contributor to the formation of scientific and technical human capital, which has been an important driver in economic expansion and social development in many regions of the world. To illustrate the point, the authors use a cooperative framework to elucidate the relationship between immigration of medical doctors and economic development in the long-run using the potential agreement between North Africa and the European Union as an example. The finding could have implications for the capacity of developing countries to turn around and use “circular immigration” as a means to integrate into the emerging knowledge economy.