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Which countries would benefit most from an American brain drain?

(www.economist.com)
43 points rustoo | 1 comments | 12 Apr 25 15:03 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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iambateman ◴[12 Apr 25 15:58 UTC] No.43665494[source]▶
China. China. China. The answer is China.
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dlachausse ◴[12 Apr 25 16:05 UTC] No.43665575[source]▶
Honest question, what would be gained by moving from America to China? Their government is by nearly all measures less tolerant, less free, less friendly to foreigners, more racist, and at least as morally evil, but probably more so considering their treatment of the Uyghurs and other minority populations.

At least in America if you’re not a fan of the Trump administration we’ll have another leader in a couple years. You can’t say the same for China.

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1. iambateman ◴[12 Apr 25 16:23 UTC] No.43665758[source]▶
I agree with every point here but I think we’re talking about different things.

Brain drain from the US will be a dispersion that will hurt America but not meaningfully help any single country directly. At least in the short term.

But China has a lot to gain from a weakened America simply by being the best positioned, most aggressive secondary power.

Of course you’re right that an individual emigrating from the US to China is economically net-negative for that individual except for in very unusual circumstances.