DIAS Wild Wednesday - 'Freedom of Movement and Brain Drain: A Moral Debate' by Professor Paul Bou-Habib, University of Essex

Freedom of Movement and Brain Drain:  A Moral Debate

The free cross-border movement of people, when it occurs, is in many respects a great social achievement and a great individual opportunity. Free movement generally produces large individual earnings boosts, and it can be a major contributor to reducing individual and global poverty. But it also contains mechanisms whereby typically richer destination countries appear to exploit the typically poorer origin countries who have invested in the human capital of the migrants. How to think about this hidden cost of free movement and the normative implications of brain drain? Essex University political theorist Paul Bou-Habib will sketch the issues based on his forthcoming OUP book Brain Drain: A Moral Assessment. DIAS Chair Pieter Vanhuysse will then chair a roundtable discussion with three political theorists: Paul Bou-Habib, Lars Tønder (SDU, Politics), and Lasse Nielsen (SDU, Humanities). 

Paul Bou-Habib is Professor of Political Philosophy in the Department of Government at the University of Essex. His research interests are in the history of political philosophy and contemporary political philosophy. He has written articles on climate change, demography and politics. He is currently writing a book entitled The Brain Drain: A Moral Assessment, which explores the extent to which skilled emigrants and the host states they relocate to owe duties to people in their home states. 

​​​​​​​This Wild Wednesday is organized by DIAS Chair Pieter Vanhuysse.