The Brain Drain. A Survey of the Literature

This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on Brain Drain (BD). We propose an ideal path that links the first studies with the most recent ones. In this development, the literature on BD focuses on a variety of economic and social issues and recalls to national and international debates. This paper uses more than 350 articles from a variety of sources. The sources are specialized professionals journals, internet research engines, governmental publications and newspapers. In the first section we analyse the main motivations of the researchers to study the BD and we propose an ideal path to interpret this literature. In the second section we analyse the different definitions of the BD and we show that the BD is a wide and complex phenomenon. In the third section we analyse the historical roots of the BD by identifying the BD “ante litteram”. In the fourth section we analyse the “geography” of the BD. Finally, in the fifth section we analyse both some important topics linked to the BD (International Organizations, Population and Research), both the economics models that study the BD.