Re:Some US scientists consider moving overseas to continue t...
by anigbrowl on Sunday October 06, 2013 @05:04PM
(#6505439)
The main thing that jumps out at me from this graph is that (irrelevantly) that we've tripled NIH spending in real terms over the last 25 years but have seen relatively small gains in life expectancy and things like infant mortality have largely stayed static, suggesting we're into an era of diminishing returns :-/
As for scientists leaving the country, I half-agree with you. It's not a sudden crisis in the US, but has more to do with the improving and more competitive economies of other nations, which in turn makes them more attractive places for scientists to work. In the past, you could assume that people would come to the US because it was the best place for academic freedom and to have a financially rewarding science career. Now that there is more competition, we should probably be looking for ways to maintain that status rather than resting on the assumption that we're #1.
As for scientists leaving the country, I half-agree with you. It's not a sudden crisis in the US, but has more to do with the improving and more competitive economies of other nations, which in turn makes them more attractive places for scientists to work. In the past, you could assume that people would come to the US because it was the best place for academic freedom and to have a financially rewarding science career. Now that there is more competition, we should probably be looking for ways to maintain that status rather than resting on the assumption that we're #1.