How ‘Brain Drain’ Can Lead to ‘Brain Gain’. Challenges and Opportunities in Post-Crisis Greece

The financial crisis in 2009 has been a catalyst for the massive exodus of a large number of educated and highly qualified Greeks to emigrate. Ten years later, the ‘brain drain’ phenomenon as commonly referred to constitutes one of the key challenges of Greece with many political, economic and societal ramifications. In the dawn of a post-crisis new financial environment, the main objective is to create favourable conditions for the return of those being abroad by providing a bunch of incentives and inducing a reformist socio-economic agenda. This includes pro-growth policies, a better functioning welfare system as well as more targeted employment policies. Therefore, the main idea lies in turning ‘brain drain’or‘brain loss’ into ‘brain gain’, which will directly effect on the quick economic recovery and social prosperity. The scope of this paper is threefold. To investigate the impact and the opportunities that derive from this phenomenon, analyse the structure and dynamics of the welfare system and examine how the restructuring of pubic administration can contribute to social prosperity. Our study will rest on documentary analysis and descriptive statistics in order to breakdown the root causes, implications, benefits and show the current trends and initiatives that can result in better future prospects.