Which countries would benefit most from an American brain drain?

The US is still the runaway leader for funding in research. American expenditure for R&D was 940 billion dollars while the EU’s was 411 billion [1]. I doubt Canada, Switzerland, the Uk, and AusNZ combined come close to matching that gap. If we get the proposed defense budget, that R&D spending will actually go up, just not in matters many people care about immediately.

With the zeitgeist shifting, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see an exodus of people in the soft sciences and liberal arts though. It’s not like they’re leaving a lot on the table if they leave America.

1. https://www.reuters.com/world/scientists-us-harried-by-trump...

A close relative is in fairly rigorous data science in climate based littoral oceanographic research (maintains a couple R packages) doing PhD, funding cut as part of reprisals against a certain governor

exploring offers at 3 Canadian universities

so, only a couple hours drive further north to continue fairly rigorous data science research

yeah, we don't need that "soft science" nonsense here