History Main / BrainDrain

** Germany was subject to this in ''spades'' before and after UsefulNotes/WorldWar2, thanks to the fact that a good number of technical, scientific, and financial experts were Jews. AlbertEinstein, [[QuantumPhysics Enrico Fermi]], [[ILoveNuclearPower Niels Bohr]], and [[SpaceRace Wernher von Braun]], just to name a few, all emigrated to the Western powers before or after the war.
*** While those who fled before the war did so on their own initiative to escape the Nazis, researchers and other talented individuals who were taken out by the Allies after the war (with or without their consent) were removed because the Allies had no interest (at least initially) in rebuilding Germany's devastated industrial base.

* On a much smaller scale, businesses who treat workers badly tend to have high turnover.

* On ''TheSimpsons'' a company tried to hire away Smithers but he wouldn't go for it so they tried the employee with the next highest seniority (and therefore obviously the next best guy) - Homer.
** He actually was a hugely valuable employee for them, his wacky ideas were given a fair try and made the people he managed more productive. However his family had trouble adapting to the new neighborhood, and moved back to Springfield after a chat with his BenevolentBoss.

*** After the wall came down, East Germany saw a huge exodus of skilled Germans moving from the Eastern states to the rest of Germany. As a result, Eastern Germany is still considerably far behind the rest of the country twenty years later.

** He actually was a hugely valuable employee for them, his wacky ideas were given a fair try and made the people he managed more productive.

** By the same principle, countries going through particularly bad times experience an exodus of the talented to anywhere else, which naturally makes ending those bad times more difficult. Perhaps the most famous example of this phenomenon is the BerlinWall, which was in large part erected to prevent skilled people from leaving East Germany (and instead had the unintended effect of keeping precisely those people in East Germany who were unskilled at climbing walls).

* In ''AtlasShrugged'' this is [[spoiler:John Galt's major plan: to drain ALL OF AMERICA]]

* In the InteractiveFiction game ''The Lost Spellmaker'', all of the spellmakers (people who, well... make spells, for the entertainment of the masses) from the PC's town and the other villages nearby are mysteriously disappearing. It turns out they're being stolen by the nearby city of Plantasitoy. Given that Plantasitoy is [[spoiler:an anagram for PlayStation]], one could easily read this as a metaphor.

** Germany was subject to this in ''spades'' before and after WorldWar2, thanks to the fact that a good number of technical, scientific, and financial experts were Jews. AlbertEinstein, [[QuantumPhysics Enrico Fermi]], [[ILoveNuclearPower Niels Bohr]], and [[SpaceRace Wernher von Braun]], just to name a few, all emigrated to the Western powers before or after the war.

** Germany and Eastern Europe suffered this in general after WorldWar2. Scientists who'd worked on [[ThoseWackyNazis Nazi projects]] were highly sought after, and within a decade a good number of experts had emigrated to the West or the USSR, leaving their home countries stripped of expertise.

* In one episode of the animated version of ''{{Dilbert}}'', the protagonist manages to get recruited by Nirvana Corporation, the great company that's always steals the best and brightest from his old company. [[spoiler: of course, StatusQuoIsGod - so at the end of the episode he's back in his old cubicle again.]]

* In ''{{Dilbert}}'', the protagonist works at a company that always seem to be at the losing end of this. Except if you've been there for too long (like Dilbert and Co.) because this company is a black spot on resumes.

In a way, BrainDrain is the opposite of ThePeterPrinciple. However these are opposites that happily coexist and help each other making life a living hell for those who remain: [[BrainDrain The talanted move on elsewhere]], while the less talented [[ThePeterPrinciple gets promoted to positions they are incompetent for]] - which can easily lead to becoming a PointyHairedBoss.

* A common theme in ''MageTheAscension'' is how the various Traditions and Conventions try to recruit talented Mages from each other.

* ''TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja'': King Radical and his Mafia prevent the brain drain from occuring in Cumberland, MD, by encouraging high school and college graduates to stay in the area. [[http://drmcninja.com/archives/comic/13p26 Very strongly]] encouraging.

** By the same principle, countries going through particularly bad times experience an exodus of the talented to anywhere else, which naturally makes ending those bad times more difficult. Perhaps the most famous example of this phenomenon is the BerlinWall, which was in large part erected to prevent skilled people from leaving East Germany.
*** Which instead had an unintended effect of not containing any sufficiently determined and skilled people. Seriously, some of the attempts to cross over it were as ballsy as they were brilliant

* In ''Discworld/UnseenAcademicals'', Braseneck College seems to be trying this on Unseen University; their Archchancellor is the former Dean, and their Ponder Stibbons equivilent used to be Ponder's best student. They even offered Ponder the post of Bursar, but he never even asked what the salary was.

In a way, BrainDrain is the opposite of ThePeterPrinciple. However these are opposites that happily coexist and help each other making life a living hell for those who remain: [[BrainDrain The talanted move on elsewhere]], while the less talented [[ThePeterPrinciple gets promoted to positions they are incompetent for]] - which can easily lead to becmoning a PointyHairedBoss.

[[AC:ComicBooks]]
* In {{Dilbert}}, the protagonist works at a company that always seem to be at the losing end of this. Except if you've been there for too long (like Dilbert and Co.) because this company is a black spot on resumes.

* A common theme in MageTheAscension is how the various Traditions and Conventions try to recruit talented Mages from each other.
* [[StiffUpperLip Knights of the Golden Rooster]] in [[ForgottenRealms Raven's Bluff]] often complain that other knightly orders tend to "take their best". Or, looking from the other end, being an "entry-level" order for common people and adventurers and a route to higher responsibilities is one of the Roosters' main roles.

* During a given countries "golden age" it has often been common for adventurous immigrants to swarm over there to find opportunities. For instance, several conquerors have had scholars and artists crowding their courts simply because the pristige attracts. This naturally causes a BrainDrain in other countries.

* In one episode of the animated version of {{Dilbert}}, the protagonist manages to get recruited by Nirvana Corporation, the great company that's always steals the best and brightest from his old company. [[spoiler: of course, StatusQuoIsGod - so at the end of the episode he's back in his old cubicle again.]]

* In {{Dilbert}}, the protagonist works at a company that always seem to be at the losing end of this.

* In one episode of the animated version of {{Dilbert}}, teh protagonist manages to get recruited by Nirvana Corporation, the great company that's always steals the best and brightest from his old company. [[spoiler: of course, StatusQuoIsGod - so at the end of the episode he's back in his old cubicle again.]]