1175 / 



I '( ' 



aid of advanced laboratory equipment in a richer nation, to make 

 major scientific discoveries or technical advances which will ulti- 

 mately benefit all nations, their own included." ^®^ 



Accordingly, internationalists, like Prof. H. C. Johnson, mini- 

 mize the possibilities of loss to the LDCs in talent migration. Indeed, 

 they contend that even the possibility of world loss is "highly ques- 

 tionable." ^^^ Development is an integrated process, Johnson explains, 

 both of accumulating capital in the broad sense (that is, material, hu- 

 man, and intellectual) and of evolving a culture that places a high 

 premium on the efficient use of such capital and promotes the habit of 

 constantly seeking to improve the efficiency of its use. In his view, de- 

 velopment "is not likely to be promoted by concentrating attention 

 and economic policy on the accumulation of one type of capital on the 

 assumption that all else will follow." ^^° 



In contrast, advocates of the nationalist position, probably repre- 

 senting without exception all of the LDCs, view talent migration 

 within a much narrower frame of reference, specifically, the nation- 

 state. For them the nation-state is the basic political unit in interna- 

 tional affairs, deserving the highest priority and accordingly super- 

 seding all others including internationalists' concerns for the world 

 economy. They regard certain levels of human capital as indispensa- 

 l^le to the nation's economic development. Should the nation fall below 

 this minimum through emigration, they see the consequences not 

 merely as raising the marginal productivity of the remaining Imman 

 capital, but rather of jeopardizing the growth potential of the 

 nation.^^^ 



For the nationalist, losses are far less tolerable and acceptable than 

 what the internationalist would allow. Loss of key skills that may 

 trigger cumulative "external" effects in other sectors of the society dis- 

 turbs them. Loss of high-level professional manpower, trained as a 

 public investment, is looked upon as a "gift" — some say "unrequited 

 gift" — from the LDC donor nations to the advanced countries.^^^ 



Consequently, the effects of talent migration are felt very personally 

 by adherents of the nationalist view. They resent the flight of scien- 

 tists, engineers, physicians, and other professional talent which they 

 regard as indispensable to their nation's economic development. From 

 their perspective, absence from the country deprives the nation of an 

 expected and deserved manpower contribution. A genius whose work 

 benefits all mankind is recognized as an exception, but they ask, as 

 did Professor Shearer: "What about the hundreds of thousands of 

 nongenius doctors, nurses, engineers — the people who make the wheels 



3^ Coombs, p. clt., p. 61. 



aw Johnson, op. cit., p. 86. 



3"> Ibl<1. Harold E. Rowland gave the following Internationalist view of brain drain to the 

 ITnlted States : "Let us not condemn ourselves and our institutions for providing for foreign 

 scientists, doctors, and students an atmosphere of free inquiry for study and research which 

 may, one day, well enrich not only America but the world. All humanity benefits when an 

 Italian, an Englishman, or an Indian researcher unravels one of nature's mysteries In an 

 American laboratory. What appears in the short run to be a brain drain from a country — 

 and therefore its loss- — may be. In truth, one of that country's unique contributions to the 

 world's cultural common market. The brain drain from one country today may well be the 

 brain gain of the world of tomorrow." (Quoted in, Deutsch, op. cit., p. 31.) 



In arguing for the importance of student exchange. Under Secretary of State Rostow 

 appealed to the internationalist view when he said : "In one sense, the universities of the 

 world constitute a single community, helping to bind the human family together." (Hear- 

 ings. Senate Judiciary Committee, International Migration of Talent and Skills, 1968, p. 4.) 



^1 Adsms, oo. cit., pp. 4-5. 



»>2 1bld., p. 5. 



