[tikhonj]

Eh, it's hard to call it much of a "brain drain" when getting a research job is so difficult. There's no shortage of smart people interested in working in research for less than they'd make at any professional role, much less in the highest-paid industries.

PhD programs pay basically nothing, are selective, require candidates to jump through all sorts of hoops and still have no trouble filling out. Later on, becoming a professor—or some other sort of researcher with similar scope, autonomy and funding—is basically impossible, harder than making a bunch of money in quantitative finance. And yet each opening has hundreds of realistically qualified applicants. (Realistically qualified in the sense that they'd be able to do good research, anyway.)

[specialist]

Ya, "brain drain" is probably not the right metaphor. But you get the gist: Smart people have more opportunities in finance.

As you know, funding for academics, scholastics, and basic research has been on a decades long decline. The West's investment in knowledge production peaked in response to Sputnik. As the Cold War wound down, neoliberalism and the "peace dividend" replaced that commitment.

Too bad.

Maybe climate crisis, our new existential threat, will be another Sputnik moment.