“Perhaps that, in itself, is a comment on how unimportant or uncomfortable the topic is for other EAs.”
The simple explanation is that about 90% of forum readers here live in rich countries so don’t feel qualified to say what people in other countries should do.
“I am unclear why you think migration is a good EA idea. You call it “straightforward” but it is not obvious to me how migration to richer countries can help overall social impact, at least in the poorer country to which the potential EA belongs.”
OK the reasons are:
most people I speak to want to migrate for prudential reasons anyway;
better access to outstanding education and training opportunities;
much better opportunities to ‘earn to give’;
ability to influence larger foundation and government budgets, which are typically based in richer countries;
more opportunities to do valuable academic/industry research and innovation as R&D is disproportionately conducted in the rich world;
more widely recognised credentials allow more rapid promotions;
firms typically have much lower labour productivity in poor countries—that’s usually a key reason they are poor—which will hold people back from accomplishing as much as they might otherwise;
it seems like emigration somewhat raises wages in the leaving country because it raises the capital to labour ratio;
Etc.
Of course your milage may vary if you want to pursue a career track that is easier to pursue directly in the developing world (e.g. development projects or ‘bottom of pyramid’ businesses’), significantly prefer life in another country, or think it would make you significantly less altruistic to live in the developing world.
“Perhaps that, in itself, is a comment on how unimportant or uncomfortable the topic is for other EAs.”
The simple explanation is that about 90% of forum readers here live in rich countries so don’t feel qualified to say what people in other countries should do.
“I am unclear why you think migration is a good EA idea. You call it “straightforward” but it is not obvious to me how migration to richer countries can help overall social impact, at least in the poorer country to which the potential EA belongs.”
OK the reasons are:
most people I speak to want to migrate for prudential reasons anyway;
better access to outstanding education and training opportunities;
much better opportunities to ‘earn to give’;
ability to influence larger foundation and government budgets, which are typically based in richer countries;
more opportunities to do valuable academic/industry research and innovation as R&D is disproportionately conducted in the rich world;
more widely recognised credentials allow more rapid promotions;
firms typically have much lower labour productivity in poor countries—that’s usually a key reason they are poor—which will hold people back from accomplishing as much as they might otherwise;
it seems like emigration somewhat raises wages in the leaving country because it raises the capital to labour ratio;
Etc.
Of course your milage may vary if you want to pursue a career track that is easier to pursue directly in the developing world (e.g. development projects or ‘bottom of pyramid’ businesses’), significantly prefer life in another country, or think it would make you significantly less altruistic to live in the developing world.
On ‘brain drain’ and remittances Michael Clemens comments here: https://foreignpolicy.com/2009/10/22/think-again-brain-drain/. Global remittances are several times larger than all foreign aid.