South America has always had a brain-drain problem. The best universities in SA are... not globally notable. Widespread suspicion of academia, fostered by both

South America has always had a brain-drain problem. The best universities in SA are... not globally notable. Widespread suspicion of academia, fostered by both conservative Christian parties and populist socialist ones, makes it difficult for South American universities to thrive and compete internationally. Many people draw comparisons to Southeast Asia and Korea, major recent success stories — there, scholarly professions and institutions are more respected, which, I think, has helped high-tech industries catch up to the OECD more rapidly than their South American counterparts.