Ah yes, we all know that economies in Middle America and Eastern Europe are booming because of the departure of young educated individuals -- or maybe not? It's certainly true that China doesn't suffer from brain drain - they have a strong sense of nationalism and vast majority of people educated in the West return there. We see this reflected in their economic development. Whereas a nation of similar size, such as India, where a lot of silicon valley professionals come from, is growing its economy at the same rate -- or maybe not? And lets not look at the growth of the collective African economy compared to the Chinese one, because that'd just be depressing.