A REVIEW ON THE OVERSEAS RESEARCHES ON INTELLIGENCE MIGRATION
LEI Xiao-lan1,2, GUO Jian-xiong1, LI Zhi-jun1
1. School of International Business, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an 710062, China;
2. School of Humanities, Economics and Law, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China
Abstract Intelligence migration is an international phenomenon, which has gained great concern from all over the world. Theories of international migration include neoclassical economic theory, dual labor market theory, and new economics of labor migration, as well as relative deprivation theory, world systems theory, network theory, and institutional theory. After reviewing the above theories, four groups of categories acting on international migration are identified:economy, society, politics and linkages between countries. The categories are further divided into several components. Integrating the four categories, a systematic framework of intelligence migration is presented. In general, all the four categories have impacts in both sending and receiving countries. The impacts in the framework can be direct, reverse, and indirect. Direct effects are straightforward effects of the determinants of international migration. Reverse effects are subsequent effects of international migration on the various determinants. To sum up, intelligence migration and its determinants are interrelated and interacted in the framework. Hereby, the negative effects of brain drain are analyzed in detail. The overwhelming opinion is that the emigration of professionals and academics has certainly harmed the home countries in that the "reverse technology transfer" resulting from such migration entails high costs for the countries of origin that are not repaid by the receiving countries. Also, the emigration of qualified workers brings disadvantages for the population left behind, as it reduces the chances of productively deploying production factors complementary to human capital, and eliminates incomes that are the basis of domestic demand and taxation. Another opinion is that the outflow of the intelligence may result in excessive education and education-induced unemployment. Based on the causes of intelligence migration, four specific recommendations for policies to reduce the intelligence migration are explicitly stated. Finally, after posing the current reality of rural-urban migration in China, it is proposed that scholars may use the systematic framework of international migration which is constructed in this paper to analyze the prevalent phenomenon of our country's rural-urban migration. In particular, at present, how to deal with the problem of low human capital in agriculture and rural areas by policies of compensational education.
2011, Vol. 26 
