[Accepted] Circling the Brain Drain

[West Barack and East Obama]

[title] Circling the Brain Drain

[description] A meeting with the nation's top medical research department had to be cancelled after you were the only person to show up. As it turns out, the entirety of the department had resigned from their posts to take up high-paying jobs in countries such as the United Federation.

[validity] allows emigration, low income, low development(?)

[option] "@@NAME@@ is suffering from a shortage of educated professionals across the board," sighs your Minister of Manpower, as he takes a seat next to you in the empty conference room. "This exodus of professionals has led to nightmarish understaffed hospitals and local industry grinding to a halt. And who can blame them? They get paid twice as much to do the same job in another country. We must push for greater incentives for these professionals to remain in @@NAME@@ as much as possible, such as housing benefits and higher wages. Of course, you can start by increasing the wages of the brilliant AND loyal mind behind this idea."

[effect] threatening to leave the country is the easiest way to get a pay raise

[option] "Did you know that the salary of a rocket scientist in Bigtopia is roughly equivalent to mine?" exclaims a nearby janitor, with a suspiciously thick Bigtopian accent. "There's no need to keep throwing money at ungrateful brats when you can fight fire with fire. If your country keeps losing its top academics to richer countries, just poach a few from poorer countries to replace them! Establish a programme to recruit foreign educated professionals and make it easier for them to get high-paying jobs here. It's not rocket science!"

[effect] a worrying number of Blackacrean immigrants have taken on roles in the nation's military R/D department

[option] "Even without this migration problem, we still wouldn't have enough graduates to sustain our growing nation," bemoans your Minister of Education, who appears to have taken the other empty seat next to you. "We need to tackle the root cause of this problem - too few people receiving a higher education. Establish more universities across @@NAME@@ and encourage as many people as possible to obtain degrees. Now, about our budget..."

[effect] street sweepers are expected to hold at least one degree before being offered employment

[option] "All of your ideas are rubbish!" scoffs a voice from under the conference room's table. As it turns out, controversial eugenicist and founder of the Scholar's Mate dating service @@RANDOMNAME@@ had been hiding down there the entire time. "We're lacking smart people, so the clear solution is to create more of them. A genius that breeds with a genius will create a genius baby, that's literally basic biology. We need to force the few brainiacs we have left to breed with each other and start families. This way, we can finally safeguard our future generations from further deterioration."

[effect] the smartest students deliberately fail examinations to escape arranged relationships

[title] Circling the Brain Drain

[description] A meeting with the nation's top medical researchers had to be cancelled after you were the only person to show up. As it turns out, the entirety of the department had resigned from their posts to take up high-paying jobs in countries such as the United Federation.

[validity] allows emigration

[option] "@@NAME@@ is suffering from a shortage of academics across the board." sighs your Minister of Manpower, as he takes a seat next to you in the empty conference room. "I mean, who can blame them? They get paid twice as much to do the same job in another country. We must push for greater incentives for academics to remain in @@NAME@@ as much as possible, such as housing benefits and higher wages. Of course, you can start by increasing the wages of the brilliant AND loyal mind behind this idea."

[effect] threatening to leave the country is the easiest way to get a pay raise

[option] "Did you know that the salary of a rocket scientist in Bigtopia is roughly equivalent to mine?" exclaims a nearby janitor, with a suspiciously thick Bigtopian accent. "There's no need to keep throwing money at ungrateful brats when you can fight fire with fire. If your country keeps losing our top academics to richer countries, just poach a few from poorer countries to replace them! You should relax some immigration laws and make it much easier for foreigners to get high-paying jobs here. It's not rocket science!"

[effect] a worrying number of Blackacrean immigrants have taken on roles in the nation's military R/D department

[option] "Even without this migration problem, we still wouldn't have enough graduates to sustain our growing nation." bemoans your Minister of Education, who appears to have taken the other empty seat next to you. "We need to tackle the root cause of this problem - too little people receiving a higher education. Establish more universities across @@NAME@@ and encourage as many people as possible to obtain degrees. Now, about our budget..."

[effect] street sweepers are expected to hold at least one degree before being offered employment

[option] "All of your ideas are rubbish." exclaims a voice from under the conference room's table. As it turns out, controversial eugenicist and founder of the Scholar's Mate dating service @@RANDOMNAME@@ had been hiding down there the entire time. "We're lacking smart people, so the clear solution is to create more of them. A genius that breeds with a genius will create a genius baby, that's literally basic biology. Not only would encouraging what few academics we have left to start families with each other protect our future generations, but it would encourage them to settle down and not leave our precious land. How could this go wrong?"

[effect] top-performing students are frequently made fun of for their "Old Brains"

Hey all, here's an issue I've been working on for the issues contest.

It's a bit rough on the edges and the effect lines could be a little snappier (my weakness!) so any feedback is much appreciated :>

[Southland]

If they're leaving purely for pay reasons, then my main concern is that it'll be too similar to Issue #283. I think a more original description would be to have that the brain drain be caused by authoritarian governments persecuting the nation's intellectuals a la Nazi Germany or modern-day Iran.

[West Barack and East Obama]

If they're leaving purely for pay reasons, then my main concern is that it'll be too similar to Issue #283. I think a more original description would be to have that the brain drain be caused by authoritarian governments persecuting the nation's intellectuals a la Nazi Germany or modern-day Iran.

I believe the two topics are distinct enough to avoid overlap. 283 is about the ultra wealthy leaving for tax reasons, and the options presented to solve the issue are quite different from the ones proposed here.

The persecution of intellectuals could be an interesting topic for another issue though.

[Southland]

Yeah I don't know what I was thinking when I said it was too similar to that issue. The premise is fine as is.

With that being said, Option 2 definitely needs an immigration check. What you have currently works for nation's that have immigration, but for those that ban it the alternative should instead be someone like the Economics Minister advocating that you open the borders to attract talent.

[West Barack and East Obama]

Yeah I don't know what I was thinking when I said it was too similar to that issue. The premise is fine as is.

With that being said, Option 2 definitely needs an immigration check. What you have currently works for nation's that have immigration, but for those that ban it the alternative should instead be someone like the Economics Minister advocating that you open the borders to attract talent.

The idea behind the phrasing of 'relaxing immigration laws' was so that it could apply to any nation regardless of their stance on immigration. However, if need be, I could create a doppelganger for nations with different policies.

[Southland]

Yeah I don't know what I was thinking when I said it was too similar to that issue. The premise is fine as is.

With that being said, Option 2 definitely needs an immigration check. What you have currently works for nation's that have immigration, but for those that ban it the alternative should instead be someone like the Economics Minister advocating that you open the borders to attract talent.

The idea behind the phrasing of 'relaxing immigration laws' was so that it could apply to any nation regardless of their stance on immigration. However, if need be, I could create a doppelganger for nations with different policies.

The reason I made that suggestion is because of the "exclaims a nearby janitor, with a suspiciously thick Bigtopian accent" part of the entry. While you most likely meant for "suspiciously" to cover both bases, it's an easy thing to miss (I didn't catch that until you stated that it was meant for both kinds of nations. I initially just thought "Why would a nation that bans immigration allow Bigtopians?") and it doesn't make much sense to include it if a nation welcomes immigrants with open arms.

This will be my last contribution for now in order to let others speak.

[Trotterdam]

How is allowing immigration supposed to solve a situation when the entire premise is that the kinds of people you're trying to attract don't want to be in your nation because there are better places to immigrate to?

[Verdant Haven]

- In the description, just a slight tweak to clarify what "the department" means would help. I'm not sure if we can assume a "Department of the Nation's Top Medical Researchers" without stating it.

- Academia is one field subject to brain drain, but there are many others that wouldn't necessarily get lumped into that category. Engineers are a big one, for example, as are doctors of the non-research variety (both of whom, despite their impressive educations, are not typically considered academics). Is it the academy in particular that is suffering here, or more of a broad-based brain drain scenario?

- Providing some identification of why brain drain is happening in this scenario, and suggesting the accompanying validity, will help bring focus to the solutions that are offered.

- I know speaker 2 is presented as having questionable national identity, but probably wouldn't switch from "your" to "our" mid-sentence. Rather than focusing on the immigration laws question in particular, I think amping up the "just poach them" suggestion would help make this work for any nation. An active program of recruiting foreign professionals from less fortunate nations is a pretty solid government action in-and-of itself.

- The final speaker is an odd mix of horrifying and mild. If this person is a eugenicist hiding under the table, they might carry more oomph if they're suggesting something more than just *encouraging* "geniuses" to mate. Seems like they might be suggesting a somewhat more compulsory program of breeding, with the accompanying uncomfortable outcomes. There could be some fascinating effect lines resulting from a situation where brilliant scholars try to flunk tests in order to avoid being forced into relationships they don't want.

[West Barack and East Obama]

- In the description, just a slight tweak to clarify what "the department" means would help. I'm not sure if we can assume a "Department of the Nation's Top Medical Researchers" without stating it.

Done.

Academia is one field subject to brain drain, but there are many others that wouldn't necessarily get lumped into that category. Engineers are a big one, for example, as are doctors of the non-research variety (both of whom, despite their impressive educations, are not typically considered academics). Is it the academy in particular that is suffering here, or more of a broad-based brain drain scenario?

A broad-based brain drain scenario was what I had in mind, but I couldn't really think of a term that could include everyone that would possibly leave the country. I considered 'professionals' but felt that was a bit too broad.

Providing some identification of why brain drain is happening in this scenario, and suggesting the accompanying validity, will help bring focus to the solutions that are offered.

The description does say that the researchers, and as implied by the first speaker everyone else, aren't paid enough to remain in the country. What in particular do you think needs a bit more clarity or focus?

I know speaker 2 is presented as having questionable national identity, but probably wouldn't switch from "your" to "our" mid-sentence. Rather than focusing on the immigration laws question in particular, I think amping up the "just poach them" suggestion would help make this work for any nation. An active program of recruiting foreign professionals from less fortunate nations is a pretty solid government action in-and-of itself.

Good idea.

The final speaker is an odd mix of horrifying and mild. If this person is a eugenicist hiding under the table, they might carry more oomph if they're suggesting something more than just *encouraging* "geniuses" to mate. Seems like they might be suggesting a somewhat more compulsory program of breeding, with the accompanying uncomfortable outcomes. There could be some fascinating effect lines resulting from a situation where brilliant scholars try to flunk tests in order to avoid being forced into relationships they don't want.

That was my original idea, but I changed it a bit because I wasn't sure if the idea was too icky to be in an issue option I'll edit it to amp up the grossness factor.

How is allowing immigration supposed to solve a situation when the entire premise is that the kinds of people you're trying to attract don't want to be in your nation because there are better places to immigrate to?

I'll change the focus from just allowing more immigration to actively poaching these foreigners.

[West Barack and East Obama]

Bump

[Verdant Haven]

- Are you envisioning any additional validities here? Just general low income, or anything else?

- Re: your response above, "professionals" is broad, but I do hear the slightly more specific "educated professionals" used in this context pretty frequently.

- Option 1: While it may seem obvious, I would have the speaker actually mention one or two of the problems caused by the exodus, and why they want to keep people in the nation.

- Option 3: Unless that's deliberate irony, the education minister would probably say "too few people."

[Australian rePublic]

But why is brain-drain a problem in this specific issue? Just use research from overseas. Of the issues that come with brain-drain, this one is probably the least noteworthy of leader's attention for that reason

[West Barack and East Obama]

thanks Verdant Haven, and a final bump for last minute feedback before I send this off :>

[Verdant Haven]

- Effect 1 is a bit literal. Anything else possible? Something about bribing the best and brightest, or the best workers being paid enough to quit working, or some other irony like that?

- Option 2: Why is the accent suspicious? I don't see an immigration ban mentioned!

- Option 3: Might want to include a wee comment about why having more people graduate with degrees would help the problem that people who have degrees always leave. I'm guessing it's something along the lines of "They can't all leave, can they?" but we should see it in writing.

[Australian rePublic]

But why is brain-drain a problem in this specific issue? Just use research from overseas. Of the issues that come with brain-drain, this one is probably the least noteworthy of leader's attention for that reason