Debating Brain Drain: May Governments Restrict Emigration? (Debating Ethics)

Many of the best and brightest citizens of developing countries choose to emigrate to wealthier societies, taking their skills and educations with them. What do these people owe to their societies of origin? May developing societies legitimately demand that their citizens use their skills to improve life for their fellow citizens? Are these societies ever permitted to prevent their own citizens from emigrating?

These questions are increasingly important, as the gap between rich and poor societies widens, and as the global migration of skilled professionals intensifies. This volume addresses the ethical rights and responsibilities of such professionals, and of the societies in which they live. Gillian Brock and Michael Blake agree that the phenomenon of the brain drain is troubling, but offer distinct arguments about what might be permissibly done in response to this phenomenon.

Gillian Brock is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. Her recent and current research focuses on global justice and related fields. Her most recent works with Oxford University Press include Global Justice: A Cosmopolitan Account (2009) and Cosmopolitanism versus Non-Cosmopolitanism (2013).

Michael Blake is Professor of Philosophy and Public Affairs at the University of Washington. He writes about international distributive justice and the ethics of immigration. He is the author of Justice and Foreign Policy (OUP, 2013).