Brain Drain or Human Capital Flight

The paper argues that quot;brain drainquot; (BD) and quot;capital flightquot; (CF) are factor responses to developments in the domestic economy and hence should not be viewed differently (push for CF and pull for BD), with divergent metaphors (scared into flight for CF and pulled by gravity for BD) and sharply differing policy approaches (maintain interest parity for CF and curbs for BD). Consequently, it is proposed that Human Capital Flight (HCF) might be the better metaphor.Globalisation has increased the possibilities for the highly educated, hence obviating domestic efforts at incomes policy which many governments in poor countries have maintained for many years. Recognising this, an incentive parity for retaining and attracting skills, called a skill incentive parity (SIP), is derived. Like the rich countries, the poor countries must also take advantage of the global talent market and cease the policy of protecting domestic jobs for national talent. There is a need to raise awareness on this issue among LDCs.The traditional approach for measuring HCF relies on average educational attainment figures such as years of education completed. This measure is likely to be inaccurate since it does not account for the extent to which educational attainment is of global quality. Global knowledge spillovers require professional development to a common global quality level. Policy must, therefore, take as its objective professional development to an international level rather than mere quantity indicators for education