However, this opportunity is not available to all Haitians. This spurs the intelligentsia or those of means to immigrate to places like the United States or France in order to better their life. In a country like Haiti, where there exists a general lack of post-secondary education, most individuals must leave the country altogether if they are interested in a college education or beyond. Although once upon a time Haiti was heralded as the “Pearl of the Antilles,” since the Duvalier regime, Haiti has seen a mass exodus of their best and brightest in search of a “better standard of living and quality of life, higher salaries, access to advanced technology and more stable political conditions.” But who suffer most are the nations that are being abandoned. Take Haiti - a country riddled by violence and structural inequity. This form of economic terrorism leads to the draining of resources in the form of human capital. In fact, the concept was introduced with the term “human capital flight” as early as post-World War II, to define the migration of highly-educated people leading to a hole in the very societies and economies they were leaving behind. But what is brain drain and what does it have to do with the aforementioned countries and their issues? The notion that civil unrest spurs the emigration of the country’s most intelligent and highly trained people - the very individuals best equipped to remedy the perils of their countries - is not a novel idea. While all of these issues are in fact accurate, the one we are seeking to address here is the brain drain phenomenon. What do the countries of Haiti and Nigeria have in common? Perhaps it is their high populations of Black and brown people? Or could it be the civil and political unrest that has recently plagued each country? OPINION: Brain drain - the loss of critical human capital - is the migration of highly-educated people leading to a hole in the very societies and economies they left behind
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