Can high-skilled Mexicans’ migration adopt a positive externality view under a stakeholders’ approach?

Abstract

One of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is the generation and transfer of knowledge that enhances productivity. High-skilled immigrants from emerging countries have become relevant players in alleviating the talent shortage developed countries face and providing them with continuous knowledge that promotes innovation and competitiveness. But to what extent does this knowledge generation occur at the expense of emerging economies’ development? This research explores the mechanisms that may favor the attainment of this SDG in migrants’ sending countries. Through the lenses of both the externalities and the stakeholders’ approach, it analyzes the case of highly skilled Mexicans migrating to the U.S. It suggests that these talented people can integrate brain chains that lessen the weaknesses of the home country’s national innovation system and foster Mexico’s absorptive capacities if they count on the support of the private sector and the academia and the indispensable endorsement of the home country government through the creation and execution of sensible public policies.