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The internal brain drain: foreign aid, hiring practices, and international migration
Author(s) -
LemayHébert Nicolas,
Marcelin Louis Herns,
Pallage Stéphane,
Cela Toni
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
disasters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.744
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1467-7717
pISSN - 0361-3666
DOI - 10.1111/disa.12382
Subject(s) - salary , brain drain , dual (grammatical number) , business , phenomenon , political science , economics , economic growth , law , physics , quantum mechanics , art , literature
Building on empirical material gathered in Haiti, this paper advances a new and innovative understanding of the internal brain drain phenomenon—the poaching of local skilled workers by international organisations (IOs) or international non‐governmental organisations (INGOs)— by conceptualising it as an equilibrium. This equilibrium is composed of two sets of tensions: (i) those between the salary conditions in the public sector and those on offer to local personnel working for IOs and INGOs; and (ii) those inherent in the dual salary scale used by IOs and INGOs for local and international staff. These two sets of tensions contribute in their specific ways to international migration, and, as such, the internal brain drain has a bearing on external brain drain dynamics. In addition, the paper addresses the difficult policy choices facing development and humanitarian organisations, since every set of policies that impacts on one side of the equilibrium is bound to affect its other side.