Abstract

How should states respond to the departure of talented individuals from the developing to the developed world--the so-called brain drain? In Debating Brain Drain, Gillian Brock and Michael Blake investigate whether restrictions on emigration can be justified in order to avoid the harmful effects of the brain drain. In this piece, I argue that the question of whether states have the right to limit the exit of their skilled citizens cannot be answered in isolation from the question of what global migration regime is best able to protect vulnerable persons. In particular, I argue that the responsibility to prevent the brain drain lies with recipient states, who are actually required to exclude prospective skilled immigrants when a number of conditions are met.