Brain drain from Baden-Württemberg

Labour supply from the highly skilled (brains) is essential for innovation and growth of countries and regions. Universities, firms, as well as public and private research facilities compete for the best and the brightest worldwide. Especially regions like Baden-Württemberg, that are strongly integrated into the international division of labour, can maintain or increase their level of economic wealth and social security only if they succeed to attract the brains.

It is known that the number of German emigrants from Baden-Württemberg has been constantly rising since the year 2000, causing even a net population loss in the last years. But skill-specific data unfortunately are not available on the regional level.

The goal of this research project therefore is to systematically analyze for the first time to what extent and why the highly skilled leave Baden-Württemberg and head abroad. The empirics will be based on already existing micro and macro data, paired with new methodologies as well as on an own survey.