Right to Migrate & 'Brain-Drain' : They say that ''grass is always greener on the other side of the fence''. For a true migrant, is it merely the grass?

• Main Author: Nadezhkina, Alisa
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Linköpings universitet, Centrum för tillämpad etik 2012
• Subjects: Ethics of Migration
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-85221

Migration has always been generating a complex tension between individuals and nations. There are many perspectives on why people migrate, how people migrate, what impact migration has on what are called 'receiving' and 'sending' countries, and whether countries should encourage or limit migration. This thesis is devoted to analyzing a fundamental phenomenon which accompanies migration itself, namely human capital flight. This phenomenon is often depicted by its more popularized name, 'brain drain'. It concerns that highly skilled workers in developing countries seek a better future by migrating to developed countries. There has been an ongoing debate about the negative and positive effects of human capital flows. Most importantly, it can create problems for the sending country, given that expertise and skills are 'lost'. For that reason, my research will focus on the emigration of highly skilled workers and its impact on the sending countries as they are mainly the most disadvantageous participants of this human capital flow. Accordingly, the questions to be examined concern the competiting rights and duties hold between migrants and nation states.  To what extent, are developing states in their right to restrict this type of emigration? Whether freedom of movement can be reckoned as an indispensable human right?