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I don't understand this nationalistic view that "America" needs to have the best innovators from everyone corralled into it. Does the wealthiest country on the

I don't understand this nationalistic view that "America" needs to have the best innovators from everyone corralled into it. Does the wealthiest country on the planet need the most talented people on the planet to succeed? No, it does not. Developing countries need those people. As long as America is the brain drain for everyone else, it's easier to exercise economic imperialism. Too much immigration is tied to corporate welfare. Immigration should be based on human rights rather than importing white collar labor.

JoeAltmaier 6y ago
Hm. Not sure what a medical researcher is going to do, plunked down in a country without resources or labs or anything, really, they need to be effective. Its an efficiency argument, that concentrating resources yields more results. Ideally, for everyone. That's not working out so great, but the solution is probably to work on that, and not cripple innovation for spite.
- linuxftw 6y ago
  > Not sure what a medical researcher is going to do, plunked down in a country without resources or labs or anything, really, they need to be effective. It's not clear that this person needs to be a medical researcher. Maybe they need to be an electrical engineer or civil engineer to help build this infrastructure to allow medical researchers to exist. Of course, there's no domestic market for those positions, civil authorities just hire engineering firms from developed countries. It's also not clear if America needs a supply of this labor from elsewhere. Even if "America" did, if "America" was short on this supply, then wages would rise for the existing labor pool, this would stimulate growth in the other countries for this sector because the market is signaling there is money to be made. Of course, it's better for American corporations if they can control as much of the talent capital as possible. Taking in foreign students also distorts the education market place in developing countries. Everyone has heard of MIT, but what is the best engineering university in Kenya? The education industry as a result is underdeveloped in developing countries as well. We can go into another can of worms about how many students and graduate students are essentially free labor for these institutions, and the 'students' are paying for the privilege. What they really look like to me are unpaid internships under the guise of 'education' in which major universities have a monopoly.
bzb3 6y ago
Yes, Americans should wish the best brains go somewhere else so America loses its relevance. Makes a lot of sense. In fact why don't Americans advocate for America bombing itself?

JoeAltmaier 6y ago

Hm. Not sure what a medical researcher is going to do, plunked down in a country without resources or labs or anything, really, they need to be effective. Its an efficiency argument, that concentrating resources yields more results. Ideally, for everyone. That's not working out so great, but the solution is probably to work on that, and not cripple innovation for spite.

linuxftw 6y ago
> Not sure what a medical researcher is going to do, plunked down in a country without resources or labs or anything, really, they need to be effective. It's not clear that this person needs to be a medical researcher. Maybe they need to be an electrical engineer or civil engineer to help build this infrastructure to allow medical researchers to exist. Of course, there's no domestic market for those positions, civil authorities just hire engineering firms from developed countries. It's also not clear if America needs a supply of this labor from elsewhere. Even if "America" did, if "America" was short on this supply, then wages would rise for the existing labor pool, this would stimulate growth in the other countries for this sector because the market is signaling there is money to be made. Of course, it's better for American corporations if they can control as much of the talent capital as possible. Taking in foreign students also distorts the education market place in developing countries. Everyone has heard of MIT, but what is the best engineering university in Kenya? The education industry as a result is underdeveloped in developing countries as well. We can go into another can of worms about how many students and graduate students are essentially free labor for these institutions, and the 'students' are paying for the privilege. What they really look like to me are unpaid internships under the guise of 'education' in which major universities have a monopoly.

bzb3 6y ago

Yes, Americans should wish the best brains go somewhere else so America loses its relevance. Makes a lot of sense. In fact why don't Americans advocate for America bombing itself?