The ‘Virtual Return’ Option of the Highly Educated Immigrants: The Case of Greek PhD Holders

Abstract

AbstractHighly educated human capital is crucial for economic development. This has created a situation where countries compete to attract the best and the brightest. Being the case that in developed countries the demand for skilled human capital is greater than the supply, such global policies risk the possibility of less developed ones losing a significant part of their human capital. In this chapter, we review the policies followed by the countries losing their human capital to counter this trend. Greece being such a case, herein we examine the relevant policies and present the results of a novel field research. Conducted on top-tier highly educated individuals (PhD holders) who received their doctorate degree in the period 1985–2018, we examine issues of physical and virtual option as well as return policies that can be extended by the state. In terms of findings, 14.8% of these individuals currently live abroad while 31.3% of them have lived and worked abroad in the past. They maintain strong ties with Greece and they believe that the state could do certain things to help them to return (return option) as well as to facilitate their connection to the Greek economy while they still reside abroad (‘virtual return’/ ‘diaspora option’).