From brain drain to brain circulation: how labour mobility can help less developed European regions

One of the potential problems created by the free movement of people is that skilled workers are drawn toward more developed areas, undermining the development of their own regions. As Riccardo Crescenzi, Nancy Holman and Enrico Orrù write, this process, commonly referred to as ‘brain drain’, can present a number of challenges for less developed European regions. However, drawing on research in Sardinia, they suggest that fostering an alternative process of ‘brain circulation’, in which the international networks and contacts of individuals living within an area can be utilised as a resource for development, can make mobility a positive driver of change.