Mass media are still discussing the East European brain drain. Not so long ago, Mark Adomanis, a contributing writer for Forbes, wrote an article called All Of Eastern Europe Has A Brain Drain Problem.
It is logical that the issue has recently attracted more attention since the brain drain from East European countries to the countries with developed economies has been a steady trend ver the last few decades.
While some East European experts call it a tragedy that result in a loss of talents, others call it a natural process since more talented and creative people deserve to earn more and to have everything they need to work on their projects amid globalization.
Mr. Adomanis expresses his disagreement with several other editions (like The Economist). The author doesn’t agree with some widespread myths like the one that the biggest brain drain is seen in Russia due to Putin’s autocracy, bureaucracy, corruption and low living standards. Yet, it wasn’t hard for Adomanis to bust the myth by rasing some migration stats. What do they tell us about? The figures indicate that the brain drain from Russia has slowed down dramatically over the last few years. Another thing is that people want to earn more money abroad to lead more comfortable lives. On top of that, Russia is no the only East European state that is suffering from brain drain. Such countries like Poland, for example, as well as some other Eastern members of the EU are currently seeing more intense brain drain.
After than, the author concludes that it is not about Russia’s political regime. The thing is that:
“Russia, in other words, can reform to its hearts content, it can become the most thoroughly democratic and efficient government in human history, and a substantial number of people will still decamp for the West simply because the West is a lot wealthier. This doesn’t mean that Russia shouldn’t reform, it simply means that even if Russia does engage in a top-to-bottom liberalization of its political institutions we will be subject to a never ending series of articles bemoaning the “brain drain." "
At the same time, we shouldn’t exaggerate the brain drain problem. As a rule, only 10% of the highly-skilled labor power goes abroad.
However, intensive brain drain may affect Russia in the long run. Half-baked decisions may undermine the fragile growth of the Russian economy, which only 2-2.5% a year. Businessmen are uncertain about the near-term prospects and are afraid of big-scale investments.
At the same time, the Russian Ruble is also seeing the consequences of economic slowdowns. The current USDRUB exchange rate is 32,8184. The chart below, courtesy of Masterforex-V Academy, reflects the current state of affairs in the market of USDRUB.
Still, the results of the brain drain are controversial. Despite the negative impact of this phenomenon, there is the other (brighter) side of the coin. In particular, most of those who left their homes to work abroad start earning much more money and sent some FO them back home to support their relatives and families. On top of that, some of them eventually succeed in getting rich and come home contribute the wellbeing of their families and their countries. Moreover, some of those guys bring back home valuable knowledge, skills and experience, which is also a huge benefit for any country.
