Flight Capital: The Alarming Exodus of America's Best and Brightest | Date: 28 April 2011, 05:33
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Flight Capital: The Alarming Exodus of America's Best and Brightest
By David Heenan
* Publisher: Intercultural Press
* Number Of Pages: 329
* Publication Date: 2005-10-25
* ISBN-10 / ASIN: 0891062025
* ISBN-13 / EAN: 9780891062028
Product Description
For centuries, the United States has been a magnet for human capital - ambitious, talented immigrants came to make their fortunes and stayed to pump wealth into the U.S. economy. Today America relies more than ever on immigrant brainpower: over half the PhDs working here are foreign born, as are nearly half the physicists, computer scientists, and mathematicians, and many of Silicon Valley's high-tech leaders. But, David Heenan warns, they may not be here long. In "Flight Capital", Heenan describes how, within the past decade, America has gone from being the top importer of brainpower to a net exporter. Empowered by the globalization of technology, emerging economies from Iceland to India are using aggressive initiatives to attract top knowledge workers. In a "reverse brain drain," hundreds of thousands of the best and brightest in America are returning to their native lands to pursue new opportunities. Heenan recounts the stories of dozens of emigrating professionals in an engaging way to explore the various factors - personal, cultural, economic, and political - that are fueling the exodus. "Flight Capital" is the first comprehensive study of the global battle for human capital and its consequences for America, at a time when a shortage of talented labor is exacerbated by post-9/11 immigration restrictions. The outflow of brainpower, Heenan argues, threatens U.S. technological and economic preeminence, and even our security, unless quick action is taken. He proposes a dozen hard-hitting measures to correct the situation, both short and long term. Timely and compelling, "Flight Capital" focuses attention on whether America will continue as a world leader, and on the new forces at play in the global economic community.
About the Author David Heenan is a trustee for the Estate of James Campbell, one of the nation's largest landowners and a former senior executive with Citicorp and Jardine Matheson. He has taught at the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania, the Columbia School of Business, and the University of Hawai'i. His articles have appeared in such leading publications as the Harvard Business Review, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Christian Science Monitor. He is author or coauthor of five other books, including Double Lives.
Summary: Heenan
Rating: 5
A compelling book about the emergence of global competitors and their impact on America's role as the dominant superpower. This book introduces the reader to the astounding development taking place in places like Ireland, Iceland, Israel, and of course India and China. He discusses how our immigration policies are causing individuals to emigrate from the US following their post-secondary education. He lays out how this trend will have lasting and deleterious consequences on our role in the world.
He points out the demise in our math and science scores relative to other global players (we are now ranked 19th globally, just after Latvia). In contrast, India generates about 300,000 engineering graduates per year and is slated to grow by 50% in three years.
He presents a number of startling statistics about our need for change. He points out that not even 1 in 3 eighth graders in the US meets proficiency standards in reading and math, despite the huge sums of money we pour into our public education system (p. 257). Further, the US has seen a 25% decline in math and science PhDs since 1997. (p. 259). He rightly points out that we must increase support for science and engineering programs if we have hope to keep up with the rest of the world.
The book goes beyond sorrowful lamentations and offers a number of proposed reforms. Heenan's recommendations include a need to reform public education in a fundamental way, a call for national service, a need to embrace science and technology, and a need to target the best minds. On the last point, he writes that our national rallying cry should be "give us your geeks!" (p. 255).
In sum, this book is thought provoking and persuasive. A great read.
Summary: Warning: shifts in population affect the economy
Rating: 5
David Heenan sounds a clarion call of alarm about educated immigrants who are now leaving the U.S. and returning to their home countries. His concern for America's well-being comes through powerfully. His portraits of the different national groups who are now repatriating are vividly drawn and rich with quotations from representative individuals. Heenan is careful to specify how each group is unique as he describes the forces pulling Irish, Icelandic, Indian and numerous other immigrants back to their native nations. Most of his clear, straightforward suggestions about ways to address this crisis sound very logical. He argues quite persuasively for globalization, and for the ability to live and work anywhere and remain connected. However, he feels this trend presents a threat to the U.S., a threat he perhaps could have spelled out more clearly. When he illuminates the tremendous contributions immigrants have made to America, he warns of the problems their departure could cause. getAbstract recommends his book to executives who need to plan for a diminishing educated labor pool or who do business internationally, especially those who can sift these arguments to see which elements apply most fully to their industries or situations. Your workforce may be sailing away faster than you know.
Summary: It is a free world..
Rating: 2
and people are free to move to better prospects!
In the 1980s, foreign students from Taiwan, India, China, etc, flooded the US for MBA, PhD, etc. Then they got jobs, moved up the corporate ladder, worked very hard to become CEOs. But most of them never made it beyond the bench work engineers, hardly VP or CEOs. Now the opportunities existed in their home countries. Of course, they will go back. It is nothing new. The flight of capital is a good indicator of the growing economy. The more India and China growing, the more the world is growing. The 2.3 billion people of India and China, is 40% of the world population.
Now that Chinese and Indian companies are getting IPOs and doing well. The next step, they will be investing in USA by buying everything: US companies, stock and bonds, hedge funds, private equity, mutual fund, pension fund, etc. The flight of capital is now Foreign Direct Investment
(FDI) in USA. The book misses this important point.
Summary: Flight Capital
Rating: 4
Let me start by saying that I'm one of these guys who resents this modern, hyper-capitalistic world we now live in, where everything is a competition, and `economic growth' and `technological advances' are seen as the ultimate good and are pursued at any cost. That being said, I'm slowly and reluctantly starting to accept that this train is moving at full speed and won't be stopping anytime soon. Thus, I better get on board or get left behind.
The premise of this book is essentially this; America is losing much of its intellectual talent to overseas, and if we hope to continue our preeminence in the globalized economy, we better put a stop to it. Not so much about native-born Americans, `Flight Capital' is more about foreign-born talent, who come to America for schooling and job opportunities, yet are being enticed to go back to the land of their birth to participate in the burgeoning economies there. Heenan's stated goal is to convince the reader that we need to stop this "brain drain" of intellectual talent, and to do this he takes us through a virtual who's who of developing economic powerhouses such as; Ireland, India, Iceland, Singapore, China, and more. He describes
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