The Elite Brain Drain

We collect data on the movement and productivity of elite scientists. Their mobility is remarkable: nearly half of the world’s most‐cited physicists work outside their country of birth. We show they migrate systematically towards nations with large R & D spending. Our study cannot adjudicate on whether migration improves scientists’ productivity, but we find that movers and stayers have identical h‐index citations scores. Immigrants in the UK and US now win Nobel Prizes proportionately less often than earlier. US residents’ h‐indexes are relatively high. We describe a framework where a key role is played by low mobility costs in the modern world.