1274 



injf, to sophisticated technical assistance, to measures that are importantly and 

 directly relevant to economic development in the AID countries. And the expan- 

 sion of institutions such as Icetex (Instituto Colombiano de Especializacion 

 Tecnica en el Brterior — Colombian Institute for Student Aid and Technical 

 Studies Abroad),™" I think is a very high priority. 



So I would say that there are things we should do with respect to migration, 

 but in my opinion, they ought to be put firmly in the context of economic develop- 

 ment.™' 



Development assistance in its many forms (technical assistance, 

 student-scholar exchanges, seed money for new programs, and the 

 iike) is perhaps the most complete remedy for brain drain : it permits 

 the intellectual and material resources, the science and technology 

 of the advanced countries like the United States to be put into the 

 service of regenerating the poor and dispossessed of the world ; it con- 

 tains the means of achieving at least some measure of equality in a 

 world of unequal distribution of wealth and resources ; it encourages 

 the interplay and development of interdependence from which both 

 sides have something to gain; and it offers prospects of institution 

 building and material progress that provide an alternative for the 

 gifted and thus encourages them to stay at home/"^ 



Role of Multinational Corporations (MNCs) in Development. — 

 Multinational corporations (MNCs) have the potential to play a 

 creative role in development. Defined as a business enterprise conduct- 

 ing transnational operations in two or more countries, the MNC has 

 the institutional resources to help the LDCs modernize, and accord- 

 ingly can contribute to reducing the "push" factor of brain drain."^ 

 The extent of these resources is shown in the Diebold Institute report 

 of 1973 entitled, "Business and Developing Countries." According to 

 the report, the MNCs carry on global operations amounting to $350 

 billion in annual business outside their home countries. This figure is 

 10 percent of the total world production of goods and services. U.S. 

 companies account for approximately 60 percent of this total. Since 

 1950, foreign investments of U.S. companies have increased from 

 $12 billion to at least $90 billion. The Diebold report predicts that 

 the trend towards expansion will accelerate. MNCs are said to be 

 expanding at an annual rate of 10 percent, twice that of the world 

 product ; and more companies are expected to go multinational in the 

 future.'^o^ 



The LDCs can be expected to share in the economic benefits from 

 this expansion of international business. Critics, however, have re- 

 garded MNCs as a mixed blessing and caution against such adverse 

 effects of their operations as the transfer of pollution from the ad- 

 vanced countries to the LDCs, the exploitation of labor, especially in 



'OS The Colombian Institute for Student Aid and Technical Studies Abroad helps to pre- 

 pare qualified leaders for all fields of Colombian life in universities of the world by means 

 of loans and scholarships. 



'"^ Hearings, House, Government Operations Committee. Brain Drain, 1968 p 42. 



707 Dr. Frankel cited a number of actions the United States could take to alleviate the 

 brain drain, putting special emphasis on encouragement to institution building. He said : 

 "In this list of possible measures, perhaps the most far-reaching Is increased emphasis on 

 institution building in the developing countries, and the encouragement, by one means or 

 another, of the development of research and educational Institutions which would offer 

 opportunities for the skilled to stay at home." (Hearings, Senate, Judiciary Committee, 

 International Migration of Talent and Skills, 1968, pp. 21-22.) 



™8 Janet Bancroft. The Multinational Corporation: A Background Survey, Congressional 

 Research Service, Library of Congress, Dec. 20, 1972, p. 1. (Foreign Affairs Division multl- 

 Uth, 72-244F.) Other definitions are given on pp. 1 and 2. 



700 The Washington Post, Sept. 4, 1973. 



