1181 



Moreover, the LDCs can grain the fruits of discoveries by their na- 

 tionals in the advanced countries without hisrh investment costs to 

 themselves. Discoveries benefit them by the availability of better-aual- 

 ity and lower-cost products. 



410 



QUESnON" OF IMPAIRIXG ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 



Hla Myint of the T^ondon School of Economics and Political Sci- 

 ence makes a case against the thesis that brain drain impairs economic 

 development. The essence of the argument is that brain drain may not 

 necessarily be a plus factor to the LDCs, but it is also not necessarily a 

 grave minus factor either. Professor Myint concludes his "I^ess 

 Alarmist View" of brain drain : "So far it is difficult to substantiate 

 the fear that the brain drain from the underdeveloped countries is 

 likely to have a serious effect in retarding their economic develop- 

 ment." "^ 



Recognizing the difficulty of assessing the effects of emigration of 

 academics from the LDCs on their economic development, Myint 

 nonetheless offers three reasons why "it is likely to be small and un- 

 certain." First, the loss to the donor country is exaggerated because 

 the productivity of brain drain academics is likely to be much higher 

 in the advanced countries than in the LDCs where they must work in 

 unfavorable conditions. Second, academic productivity (or the ab- 

 sence of it) may be in areas of study that have little relevance to 

 economic development. And third, even if relevant, the important 

 factor for economic development is not results of pure academic re- 

 searcli, which the LDCs could obtain from abroad, but the practical 

 application and utilization of the results. "Even distinguished aca- 

 demics," Myint argues, "are not usually noted for their entrepreneurial 

 and practical qualities." Moreover, Myint minimizes the develop- 

 mental effect of medical brain drain from the LDCs. The social wel- 

 fare effect rather than the economic development effect, he claims, is 

 "probably more important." *^^ 



EMIGRATION AS AN ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL ASSET 



Some students suggest that talent migration, far from being a seri- 

 ous cost factor, is actually an economic asset for the LDCs. Relatively 

 high unemployment among certain categories of professional and 

 skilled persons as a result of oversupply and underdemand charac- 

 terizes many LDCs. India has a surplus in civil engineers, thousands 

 of whom are unemployed. The Philippines have surplus doctors, many 

 of whom are either unemployed or underemployed. Hong Kong, 

 Taiwan, Dahomey, and a few other countries have a fairly high rate 

 of unemployed professional and skilled persons. In strictly economic 



"0 Johnson, op. clt., p. 83. Rev. Gibbons observed : ". . . those favoring free movement 

 of the high-level persoiftiel, Including scientists, engineers, the physicians, are apt to 

 defend their position on the grounds that such a policy costs developing countries no 

 significant amount and that in any case they are the beneficiaries in the long run because 

 of the accretions that occur in the overall, worldwide body of scientific Icnowledge." (Hear- 

 ings, House Government Operations Committee, Brain Drain, 1968, p. 10.) 



In a letter to Senator Walter F. Mondale, Thomas J. Mills of the National Science 

 Foundation declared, without giving an example : "... a foreign engineer employed by an 

 American construction companv might make an Infinitely greater contribution to the econ- 

 omy of his native country than' to the U.S." (Mills to Mondale, Sept. 22, 1966. In Congres- 

 sional Record. Oct. 13. 1966. p. 26503.) 



"1 Mjint, op, clt., p. 244. 



*^ Ibid., p. 244. 



