Medical Brain Drain: Free-Riding, Exploitation, and Global Justice

What is it about?

Gillian Brock argues that poor states are morally justified in imposing emigration restrictions on their medically-trained citizens (in form of e.g. compulsory service prior to emigrating, or continued taxation after emigration). This is because these emigration-willing citizens are exploiting their co-citizens because they are free-riding on the investment their society has made in them in form of their medical training. I argue that Brock is wrong, and that the real exploiters are the affluent societies that do not train sufficient medical personnel themselves but rather hire medical professionals from abroad.

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Why is it important?

Explains why medical professionals emigrating from their societies are not to blame for the resulting medical brain drain.