the economists article on diasporas

[jedistump]

there is an interesting article on diasporas in the economist's latest issue. i'm not an international business guru so i'm not sure if this is old news or not but these study abroad diasporas look like they may be a good candidate for improving our growth in numerous ways.

a diaspora, in this sense, is a group of migrants that go out into the world but maintain ties with their homeland through a sort of communication network.

basically, the US's group of migrant study abroad students should be cultivated. other countries can do some things better than we can and what better way of stealing those ideas is there than sending our youngest and brightest to drink it all in and bring it back home to build on. we are hosting some 500,000 chinese students and they will surely be doing just that.

on the economist - there may be a slight bias. some interesting contradictions i saw were that the idea of opening the borders - even though it is just selectively - goes against popular opinions on the right. but besides that the idea seems like territory usually supported by the right.

[logintime]

Mmmmm.... can't say I agree. Countries with large diasporas are usually nations that are quite poor and technologically needing to catch up. Part of the reason why having a large overseas diaspora is so important for India, China, the Phillipines, etc., is these countries haven't traditionally had the technological infrastructure and know-how that the overseas diaspora learns, and that diaspora shares it back (as well as a lot of money that fuels growth).

But these are positives because those countries are poor and technologically not that advanced. The US is very wealthy, has some of the best universities in the world, and is highly advanced. We don't get any real net benefit to having a large diaspora. The opposite actually- diasporas tend to be a brain drain on their countries of origin, and since the US economy relies in part on a highly-skilled work force, that would actually harm our economy.

My two cents at least. This is a bit of a more interesting (and wonkish) subject than normally graces Off-Topic, so I'm glad you posted it.