Brain drain and economic growth: evidence of productivity growth from brain circulation

This paper analyzes the effect of the so-called ‘brain drain’ on economic growth through the channel of growth in total factor productivity. We analyze panel data that measure the severity of brain drain, which are from IMD and the U.S. National Science Foundation. Our analysis shows that middle-income countries have more brain drain compared to the group of high-income countries. Also, emerging economies that grow fast tend to experience more brain drain. Our results from fixed effects regression models show that that brain drain has a significant and positive impact on economic growth, and the main channel is productivity growth. This can be considered as evidence of the positive effects of ‘brain circulation’, which is one of the brain drain phenomena that settlement of the talents in advanced countries can eventually help improve the productivity of home country by the sharing of advanced technologies and skills around them with colleagues in motherland. Therefore, a strategy of utilizing overseas resident talents should also be considered, alongside the brain-attraction policy.

Factors affecting the migration of qualified specialists in the framework of the export of education

The mobility of qualified specialists is a trend in the modern economy. In addition to the brain drain, the concept of brain circulation has emerged, the source and constituent of which is the export of education and the international student mobility programs. Based on the systematization and analysis of scientific publications in international scientometric systems, the article highlights the factors influencing the decision of students participating in study programs abroad to stay in the host country or return home after the studies.

Thyroid status and brain circulation: The Rotterdam Study

Context Whether thyroid dysfunction is related to altered brain circulation in the general population remains unknown. Objective We determined the association of thyroid hormones with different markers of brain circulation within community-dwelling elderly. Design Three subcohorts of the Rotterdam Study, starting in 1989, 2000 and 2006 respectively. Setting Population-based. Patients or Other Participants A total of 5,142 participants (mean age, 63.8 years; 55.4% women), underwent venapuncture to measure serum thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), free thyroxine (FT4). Main Outcome Measures Between 2005 and 2015, all participants underwent phase-contrast brain magnetic resonance imaging to assess global brain perfusion (mL of blood flow/100 mL of brain/min). Arteriolar retinal calibers were assessed using digitized images of stereoscopic fundus color transparencies in 3,105 participants as markers of microcirculation. We investigated associations of TSH, FT4 with brain circulation measures using (non-)linear regression models. Results. FT4 (in pmol/L) levels had an inverse u-shaped association with global brain perfusion, such that high and low levels of FT4 were associated with lower global brain perfusion compared to middle levels of FT4. The difference in global brain perfusion between high FT4 levels (25 pmol/L) and middle FT4 levels (FT4 = 15 pmol/L; P non-linearity = 0.002) was up to -2.44 mL (95% confidence interval (95%CI)= -4.31; -0.56). Similarly, higher and lower levels of FT4, compared with middle FT4 levels, were associated with arteriolar retinal vessels (mean difference up to -2.46 µm, 95%CI -4.98; 0.05 for lower FT4). Conclusions These results suggest that thyroid dysfunction could lead to brain diseases such as stroke or dementia through a suboptimal brain circulation that is potentially modifiable.

Brain circuity: The case of South Africa as a hub for doctoral education

The production and reproduction of knowledge are important components of national development. As student mobility increases, globally and within Africa, so does the national diversity of students as they seek to further their postgraduate studies at the limited number of research universities in Africa. Knowledge migration is inevitably a relationship between nation states because migration is driven by push factors (such as the socio-economic conditions and opportunities) in the country of origin as well as by pull factors (such as the rules and incentives for entry, participation in postgraduate education and post-study residency), which are prerogatives of the host nation. In other words, migration and development must be understood in comparative terms. The brain drain perspective on migration and development takes mainly the perspective of the origin country into consideration. Migration and the loss of high-level skills are seen as detrimental to the development prospects of the country of origin. The brain circulation perspective moves the discussion forward by suggesting that there are residual returns to the country of origin. However, relatively little attention has been given to the impact of knowledge migrants on the host nation when the host is facing its own post-colonial development challenges. This is the dilemma facing South Africa as a hub for doctoral students from the rest of Africa: attracting top doctoral students from the rest of the continent to contribute to the country’s knowledge capacity but at the expense of developing local talent, thereby setting up a complex tension between underdevelopment and development. Here we establish whether South Africa is maintaining its position as a PhD hub on the African continent and explore the extent to which the brain circulation argument holds up in the African context. We suggest that, given the current policy environment in South Africa, brain circuity is a more likely outcome, where brain circuity describes the flow of knowledge characterised by indirection and undesirable intricacy.

Die Aktivitäten des Resources Innovation Center im Spannungsfeld Brain Drain – Brain Circulation

ZusammenfassungDas Resources Innovation Center Leoben an der Montanuniversität Leoben veranstaltet seit 2014 eine Konferenzserie mit dem Titel East and South East Europe Dialogue Conferences. Ende 2020 wurde die online Version der Konferenz genutzt um verschiedene Stakeholder des Rohstoffsektors, sowie auch Experten zum Thema Brain Drain zu Wort kommen zu lassen. Der Artikel umreißt das Spannungsfeld von Brain Drain und Brain Circulation und zeigt Möglichkeiten und zukünftige Schritte auf mit welchen man Kooperationen mit Ost- und Südosteuropa anstoßen und so zur Brain Circulation, dem multidirektionalen Fluss von Arbeitskräften und Wissen, beitragen kann.

Protective effects of polysialic acids (PSAs) and its mimics on the nervous system after injury

Polysialic acid (PSA), a polymer of alpha-2,8 linked sialic acid residues, is a negatively charged macromolecular glycan mainly attached to neural cell adhesion molecules (NCAM). Studies have shown that PSA is not only essential for the development of normal brain circulation, but also for synaptic plasticity, learning and memory in adults. Although the occurrence, features, biosynthesis, and physiological roles of PSA and related effects on related diseases, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, neurodegenerative diseases and cancer, have been well reviewed, the important roles of PSA and its mimics in the regeneration of the nervous system following injury have not been well discussed. As a consequence, this article comprehensively reviews the effects of small organic compounds that simulate PSA, such as tegaserod and 5-nonyloxytryptamine (5-NOT), on the nervous system of mammals, suggesting that these mimetics may have tremendous therapeutic potential, especially for strategies aimed at tissue repair after injury of the nervous system.