1176 



turn and can build roads at liome in the jungles, rather than work 

 for the Ohio Highway Commission ?" ^^^ 



CRITERION : NEEDS OR DEMANDS ? 



The internationalist and nationalist models create polar opposite 

 positions and thus offer no solution to this very complex problem. Still, 

 they establish some criteria as a guide to analysis. Another criterion 

 suggested in the literature for judging the effects of brain drain, and, 

 indeed, for determining whether brain drain exists at all, is the re- 

 lationship of brain drain to a nation's needs and demands. 



The heart of the brain drain dilemma lies in this relationship be- 

 tween needs and demands. Briefly, in manpower terminology "needs" 

 mean the number of persons required to attain some agreed national 

 goal ; demands mean the existing number of jobs filled and unfilled. ^^* 

 If a nation's needs are defined in terms of a national goal to raise 

 development levels, then the needs or requirements of the LDCs for 

 a variety of professional and skilled services are very great.^^^ To 

 achieve desirable development goals, the LDCs Tieed doctors, engi- 

 neers, lawyers, agricultural extension agents, plant geneticists, econ- 

 omists, science teachers for secondary schools, and all other kinds of 

 skilled manpower for nation-building. From this perspective, short- 

 ages in such manpower are highly visible and failure to have adequate 

 supply can have serious negative effects. {In this study the criterion 

 for "need" is defined in terms of developmental requirements.) 



However, structural maladjustments that produce brain drain are 

 readily apparent when the problem is viewed from the demand side. 

 Briefly, the demand is insufficient to justify existing manpower re- 

 sources ; the developing economy cannot absorb them. The LDCs, even 

 with aid, cannot support the employment of specialists and profes- 

 sionals so that they can effectively administer the needs of the nation 

 and also obtain a satisfying return on their educational investments. 

 The gap between need and effective economic demand reflects a lack 

 of purchasing power, inadequate mobility of professional labor within 

 the country, or the insufficiency of labor or capital. This gap consti- 

 tutes a serious development problem and rather than narrowing seems 

 to be widening.^^* 



^3 Department of State, Proceedings of Workshoj) on the International Migration of 

 Talent and Skills, October 1966, p. 20. The report of the U.N. Secretary General on brain 

 drain from the LDCs elaborated on this Important distinction : "Many high-ranking 

 scientists. Including Nobel Prize winners, were probably to achieve eminence only by 

 emigrating. The question, however, arises as to the extent to which this argument applies 

 in relation to present migration. Of the 10,506 professional immigrants Into the United 

 States from developing countries In 1967, only 1,472 were natural scientists. As in all 

 professional categories, these represent higher and lower levels of occupation. Tlie argu- 

 ment would apply with little force to the majority with lower level skills and It Is there- 

 fore unlikely that It applies to more than a very small minority of the present professtonal 

 migration." (Report of U.N. Secretary General, Outflow of Trained Personnel from LDCs,. 

 Nov. 5. 1968. p. 47.) 



«** Alice W. ShurclliT, "Manipulating Demand and Supply of Hlgh-Level Manpower," 

 International Lahor Review 101, (February 1970), p. 133. 



3f^s Report of U.N. Secretary General, Outflow of Trained Personnel from LDCs, Nov. 5, 

 1968, p. 42.78. 



="* Ibid. According to 1966 estimates by J. G. Scovllle of tbe International Labor Organ- 

 ization, the net requirements for manpower In professional occupations In developing 

 countries between 1970-1980 will be 16.9 million, compared with 5.3 million In the 

 previous decade. Some earlier projections and estimates, according to the U.N. report on 

 brain drain, have been In various categories still higher. The report adds that brain drain 

 raises tbe question as to whether professionals In such numbers can be absorbed. 



