Title: Determinants of the brain drain phenomenon: case of former communist countries from Central and Eastern Europe

Authors: Nicoleta Maria Ienciu; Ionel-Alin Ienciu

Addresses: Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Babeș-Bolyai University, 58-60, Teodor Mihali Street, Cluj-Napoca, Romania ' Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Babeș-Bolyai University, 58-60, Teodor Mihali Street, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to identify the determinants of the brain drain phenomenon of former communist countries from Central and Eastern Europe. A new dataset provided by WEFGCR (2012-2013) is used to analyse the determinants of the brain drain from developing countries. The study examined the determinants of the brain drain phenomenon in terms of three main variables: political variables expressed by ethics and corruption respectively government efficiency, educational variables expressed by higher education and training services, and labour-related variables expressed by labour market efficiency. A regression model is used to identify the determinants of the brain drain of talented people. The findings suggest that the brain drain is highly influenced by the quality of the educational system in developing countries. The originality of the study consists in providing new insights on political, educational and labour determinants of the brain drain phenomenon, having in view that scholarly work on this topic is relatively limited.

Keywords: former communist countries; brain drain; Central and Eastern Europe; CEE; determinant factors; developing countries; ethics; corruption; government efficiency; higher education; training services; labour market efficiency; regression modelling.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEA.2014.067222

International Journal of Economics and Accounting, 2014 Vol.5 No.3, pp.229 - 242

Published online: 07 Feb 2015 *

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