Warning: shifts in population affect the economy

books:

	• Flight Capital: The Alarming Exodus of America's Best and Brightest David Heenan Davies-Black Publishing, 2005 - 232 pages average customer review:based on 13 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Flight Capital

Let me start by saying that I'm one of these guys who resents this modern, hyper-capitalistic world we now live in, where everything is a competition, and `economic growth' and `technological advances' are seen as the ultimate good and are pursued at any cost. That being said, I'm slowly and reluctantly starting to accept that this train is moving at full speed and won't be stopping anytime soon. Thus, I better get on board or get left behind.

The premise of this book is essentially this; America is losing much of its intellectual talent to overseas, and if we hope to continue our preeminence in the globalized economy, we better put a stop to it. Not so much about native-born Americans, `Flight Capital' is more about foreign-born talent, who come to America for schooling and job opportunities, yet are being enticed to go back to the land of their birth to participate in the burgeoning economies there. Heenan's stated goal is to convince the reader that we need to stop this "brain drain" of intellectual talent, and to do this he takes us through a virtual who's who of developing economic powerhouses such as; Ireland, India, Iceland, Singapore, China, and more. He describes how these countries are luring our scientists and engineers away, and lays out a plan of action to keep potential talent here. I will give Heenan credit, he is an optimist, and he lays out his case very convincingly, even if I don't necessarily agree with his worldview.

I think it is safe to say that I am not the target audience for this book. I am a modestly educated blue-collar worker and Heenan is clearly a big shot, an elitist if you will. I don't mean this in a derogatory way, I admire his accomplishments, but his argument isn't very appealing to those of us who will never be scientists or engineers, not to mention his somewhat dismissive attitude toward American-born workers. Personally, I think we should be concentrating on improving the native workforce, but Heenan only briefly mentions this and sees it as less practical. He clearly prefers to just import the talent.

As far as foreigners no longer coming here, Heenan could have fooled me. I work for a major R&D center (as a grunt) and there is no shortage of immigrants. As a rough guesstimate, I would say about half of the scientists and engineers are foreigners, mostly from China, India, or Russia/Eastern Europe. Anyways, that's enough complaints from this cynic. I did enjoy reading the book and would definitely recommend it as a valuable work on globalization, science and technology.

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Heenan

A compelling book about the emergence of global competitors and their impact on America's role as the dominant superpower. This book introduces the reader to the astounding development taking place in places like Ireland, Iceland, Israel, and of course India and China. He discusses how our immigration policies are causing individuals to emigrate from the US following their post-secondary education. He lays out how this trend will have lasting and deleterious consequences on our role in the world.

He points out the demise in our math and science scores relative to other global players (we are now ranked 19th globally, just after Latvia). In contrast, India generates about 300,000 engineering graduates per year and is slated to grow by 50% in three years.

He presents a number of startling statistics about our need for change. He points out that not even 1 in 3 eighth graders in the US meets proficiency standards in reading and math, despite the huge sums of money we pour into our public education system (p. 257). Further, the US has seen a 25% decline in math and science PhDs since 1997. (p. 259). He rightly points out that we must increase support for science and engineering programs if we have hope to keep up with the rest of the world.

The book goes beyond sorrowful lamentations and offers a number of proposed reforms. Heenan's recommendations include a need to reform public education in a fundamental way, a call for national service, a need to embrace science and technology, and a need to target the best minds. On the last point, he writes that our national rallying cry should be "give us your geeks!" (p. 255).

In sum, this book is thought provoking and persuasive. A great read.

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Why immigrants leave the land of the free

Unfortunately, "flight capital" is not immediately self-explanatory, but the concept is simple: Knowledge is a form of capital and it can migrate across borders.
Even before globalization, flight capital was a reality. When Britain was the technological leader of the world, it passed legislation to keep knowledge workers from emigrating. It didn't work, and the United States benefitted from "mechanics" who brought the techniques of steam and textiles with them.
Now, says David Heenan, hundreds of thousands of foreign-born American workers are re-emigrating to the countries of their birth (or, sometimes, their parents' birth).
Heenan, recently honored as one of Hawaii's leading businessmen, has been to the hotbeds of advanced economic growth and talked to these "homing pigeons" in Ireland, Iceland, India, Singapore, China, Taiwan, Israel and Mexico.
Some of the things they told him ought to make Americans think. Quite a few homing pigeons did it for their children, and not, primarily, because of better opportunities to make money or get their research interests funded easily, although those were big issues, too. They found the more cohesive societies in Israel, Iceland or Mexico more comforting places to have their children grow up in.
"Children are often the dominant factor in the relocation decision," says Heenan.
Although he calls this brain drain "alarming," Heenan acknowledges that it does bring some benefits for America. Homing pigeons are often "informal ambassadors" for American values.
"Flight Capital" is about an extremely thin stratum of American workers. Heenan's pigeons average well over two graduate degrees each.
The premise of "Flight Capital" is that researchers and creative brainworkers generally will drag the masses up, or at least along, with them. Thus their departure supposedly harms the economic outlook of less creative American laborers.
Thus Heenan can take a relaxed view of the international migration of ordinary jobs: "In the minds of many, the outsourcing of jobs has become the bogeyman of the times. The truth is far more complex. Most research has shown that exportation of work, if anything, is mildly positive to U.S. economic well-being."
So it may be, but when it's your town that was just destroyed by the transfer of a major employer to China, the benefits seem abstract while the drawbacks are real.
Attempts by a few lively, lucky countries to "move up the food chain" of jobs -- as Singapore has so dramatically done -- can readily be interpreted by those being kicked off the chain here as something other than a desirable economic development . Often, the praise of the postindustrial economy comes across to the workers in it as nothing but fancy talk for a policy of "sweating labor," and all too often, that's all it is.
One issue not taken up by Heenan is whether the losses of potential innovation to American business might not be well worth the cost if they mean that other countries get on their own feet economically (and, necessarily, socially and politically) instead of depending on American handouts, military defense and food.
In 1950, America produced half the world's economic output, an unhealthy and expensive situation that we should be glad to be passing beyond.
Alarming or not, flight capital is real and "Flight Capital" is a good introduction to the subject.
Heenan offers a 12-point call to action; policies that have been more or less consciously pursued by all eight of his exemplar countries, perhaps most consciously by Ireland, everybody's prime example of a "worst to first" economic "miracle."
Some of the 12 are obvious, if not always honored in practice, and others are hardly controversial. They are: know the competition, adapt or die, spur immigration reform, dust off the welcome mat, target the best minds, encourage dual loyalties, reform -- really reform -- education, nourish the halls of ivy, celebrate science and technology, expand the workforce, reconsider national service, act now.
Let's reconsider national service, then. (Pause 10 seconds.) It was a lousy idea in 1964 and it still is.

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Warning: shifts in population affect the economy

David Heenan sounds a clarion call of alarm about educated immigrants who are now leaving the U.S. and returning to their home countries. His concern for America's well-being comes through powerfully. His portraits of the different national groups who are now repatriating are vividly drawn and rich with quotations from representative individuals. Heenan is careful to specify how each group is unique as he describes the forces pulling Irish, Icelandic, Indian and numerous other immigrants back to their native nations. Most of his clear, straightforward suggestions about ways to address this crisis sound very logical. He argues quite persuasively for globalization, and for the ability to live and work anywhere and remain connected. However, he feels this trend presents a threat to the U.S., a threat he perhaps could have spelled out more clearly. When he illuminates the tremendous contributions immigrants have made to America, he warns of the problems their departure could cause. getAbstract recommends his book to executives who need to plan for a diminishing educated labor pool or who do business internationally, especially those who can sift these arguments to see which elements apply most fully to their industries or situations. Your workforce may be sailing away faster than you know.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

The best and brightest in America are returning to their homelands in record numbers-and with them is going U.S. technological and economic preeminence. In Flight Capital, we explore this exodus through the personal stories of dozens of successful, foreign-born professionals who are leaving America for opportunities in their native lands. Drawing on their experiences, Heenan analyzes the economic, cultural, and political factors that are driving this flight, as well as the initiatives that countries are using to attract top talent.

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