America is sabotaging itself in the global battle for talent
美国在全球人才争夺战中自毁长城
Some countries are much more serious about attracting the highly skilled
有些国家更加重视高技能人才的引进
Who said the following? "You graduate from a college, I think you should get, automatically as part of your diploma, a green card [permanent residence in the United States]." The surprising answer is Donald Trump.
猜猜这是谁说的：“我认为只要你大学毕业，就应该自动获得绿卡（即美国永久居留权），连同毕业证书一起发放给你。”令人惊讶的是，说出这句话的人竟然是唐纳德·特朗普。
Whether he meant it or not - and his record in office suggests not - his words suggest that even a nativist politician understands, at some level, that highly skilled foreigners can be useful.
无论他是否出自真心——从他在任期内推行的政策来看，并非如此——他的这番言论都表明，即便是持本土主义立场的政治家，在某种程度上也明白外籍高技能人才的价值所在。
In fact they are extra-useful, since their skills tend to complement those of locals.
由于他们的专长往往能够与本地人互补，因此这些外籍高技能人才实际上具有极高的价值。
They bring different experiences, knowledge and contacts, making local co-workers more productive.
他们可以带来不同的经验、知识和人脉，提升本地同事的工作效率。
As the globalisation of capital stagnates, the flow of brains across borders becomes an ever-more important way for new ideas to spread.
随着资本全球化的停滞，人才的国际流动在新思想的传播方面比以往任何时候都要重要。
Most rich countries are reluctant to let in many more labourers or asylum-seekers, but claim to be eager to attract top talent, especially in fields deemed strategic (such as AI) or of obvious benefit to voters (such as medicine). ***
大多数富裕国家都不愿意扩大普通劳动者和寻求庇护者的接收数量，但对顶尖人才却求贤若渴，尤其是被认为具有战略意义的领域（例如人工智能），或能给选民带来明显好处的领域（例如医疗领域）的相关才俊。
America, China and most European countries all profess to welcome such people. Yet other priorities often intrude.
美国、中国以及欧洲的大多数国家都表示欢迎这类人才。然而，上述种种却经常受到其他一些优先级更高的事务的干扰。
In Britain an obsession with cutting overall migration has led the Labour government to urge tech firms to hire fewer foreign engineers, on the false premise that this will create more high-tech jobs for natives.
在英国，工党政府片面地追求减少移民总量，呼吁各科技公司压缩所聘外籍工程师人数，因为他们认定这样做可以为本地人创造更多高科技岗位的工作机会，但这种认知其实是错误的。
As for America, though it has the world's most attractive labour market, it has one of the world's most dysfunctional immigration systems.
再说美国，尽管它拥有世界上最具吸引力的劳动力市场，但说起全球运行最不顺畅的移民体系，美国亦赫然在列。
The border brain barrier
人才跨国流动壁垒
When a company applies for an H-1B (temporary work visa) on behalf of a highly skilled worker with a six-figure job offer, there is a 75% chance it will be rejected. But not quickly. It can take a year of faffing: an eternity in the tech business.
哪怕是年薪达六位数的高技能人才，企业在为其申请 H-1B 签证（临时工作签证）时，依然有75%的概率会被拒绝，而且过程非常漫长——可能需要一年的时间来处理各种繁琐的手续，这对科技行业来说耽搁得太久了。
And if the over-achiever in question eventually wants permanent residence—so she can settle in, plan for the future and not worry about her children being deported when they turn 21 and are no longer deemed dependants—she had better not be from a populous country. ***
如果有精英想获得永久居留权——以便定居下来一心规划未来，再不必担心子女在年满21岁时因失去受扶养人身份而被遣返（译者注：指子女在年满21岁后便不再符合法律对于“孩子（child）”的定义，无法跟随父母一起移民）——其原籍最好不是人口大国。
Thanks to a ludicrous rule that no more than 7% of work-based green cards may go to any one country each year, Indian citizens can expect to wait 134 years for one. Many give up and go elsewhere.
根据移民政策，每年发放给某个国家公民的工作类绿卡数量不得超过总数的7%。由于这一荒谬的规定，印度公民想要获得一张绿卡可能要等134年。许多人只能放弃，转身前往其他国家。
Some 73% of foreign graduates of American universities tell pollsters they want to stay in America, but only 41% actually do so.
在美国大学就读的外籍毕业生中，大约73%的人向民意调查工作人员表示，他们希望留在美国，但实际能够留下的只有41%。
The blockage in the pipeline from campus to job is one reason why American universities, though the best in the world, have been losing market share to Australian and Canadian ones for two decades.
尽管美国有世界上最顶尖的大学，但过去二十年来其市场份额却被澳大利亚和加拿大蚕食，原因之一正是从校园走向工作岗位的通道被堵塞。
Contrast this with Dubai, where anyone with a salary above a certain threshold can get a work visa in a week.
与之形成鲜明对比的是迪拜，只要收入达到一定标准，任何人都可以在一周内获得该国的工作签证。
Settling in is easy—a fully digitised system lets you obtain a driving licence, open a bank account and so forth in a few days.
定居也很便捷，借助全程数字化系统，人们仅需几天便可完成驾照办理、银行账户开设等事项。
Expats can sponsor nannies for work visas, so both halves of a power couple can work.
外籍人士还可以为保姆申请工作签证，这样一来，同为职场强人的夫妻双方便都可以安心工作。
This extraordinarily welcoming system has helped turn Dubai from an obscure port on the edge of the desert into a global business hub in barely a generation.
这一制度以高度开放包容的姿态帮助迪拜在短短一代人的时间里，从沙漠边缘一个不起眼的港口蜕变成了全球的商业中心。
Democracies cannot simply copy autocratic Dubai.
民主国家不能简单地照搬专制体制下的迪拜模式。
Voters like to feel in control, and would not tolerate being outnumbered nearly nine to one by migrants. And few welfare states could get by without an income tax.
选民喜欢自己掌控局面，他们不会容忍被移民以近9比1的人数优势超过。几乎没有哪个高福利国家能在不征收所得税（译者注：指个人所得税）的情况下维持运转。
Nonetheless, Dubai is a useful benchmark for how a government can make an immigration system nearly frictionless for the people it most wishes to attract.
尽管如此，在政府如何才能为其想招纳的人才构建畅通无阻的移民体系的问题上，迪拜仍然具有参考意义。
Its success is an implicit rebuke of places that still have paper forms and surly border officials, such as America.
迪拜的成功，是对像美国这样仍旧依赖纸质表格且边境官员态度粗暴的国家的一种间接批评。
If they want to, democracies can quickly improve their immigration systems, as Portugal has, turning itself from a relative backwater into an oasis for digital nomads in a decade or so.
只要愿意，民主国家亦可以迅速改进其移民体系，像葡萄牙一样，用十年左右的时间，从一个相对落后的国家变成数字游民（译者注：指利用数字技术远程工作，可以在世界各地生活的人）的乐土。
A smart system for attracting talent should observe two principles.
明智的人才引进体系应遵循两个原则。
First, removing obstacles is more effective than offering inducements for specific professions, as many governments do.
首先，破除障碍比对特定职业进行激励更为有效，但许多国家却通常选择后者。
Second, the criteria for deciding whom to admit should be as simple and objective as possible.
其次，人才的引进标准应尽量做到简单、客观。
For example, a country could accept anyone who earns more than a certain amount, or who has graduated from a reputable university.
例如，国家可以以收入超过一定数额或毕业于名牌大学作为人才引进的标准。
Some guardrails are needed, to avoid salaries being faked or diploma mills offering shoddy degrees solely for the purpose of obtaining work visas, as Canada has found.
为防工资作假或某些文凭工厂为让学生获得工作签证而滥发学位，应采取一些防范措施。加拿大就发现过类似的情况。
But objective measures are quicker and fairer than allowing too much bureaucratic discretion.
但与给予移民官员过多的自由裁量权相比，设定客观标准会更加高效和公平。
Immigration officials are poor judges of business plans or research projects.
移民官员很难对商业计划或研究项目做出恰当的评判。
The downsides of attracting more talent are mostly manageable.
扩大引进高技能人才的规模也会带来负面影响，但大多是可控的。
If expat bankers bid up the price of housing, allow more house-building.
假如外籍银行家推高了房价，可以通过扩建住房来解决。
Another worry, that talent-poaching rich countries may leave poor places bereft of human capital, is more complex.
也有人担心富国挖走人才可能导致穷国人才流失，这个问题更为复杂一点。
When scientists move to better labs, they innovate more, to the greater benefit of humankind.
科学家搬到条件更好的实验室之后，可以产出更多的创新成果，从而给全人类带来更多的福祉。
When people emigrate from poorer countries they earn more and send money home, often paying for their relatives' education.
从贫穷国家移民出去的人会赚得更多，他们会寄钱回家，这些钱款往往用于资助亲人接受教育。
Those that fail to roll out a better welcome mat will squander a chance to speed the spread of knowledge and make themselves more prosperous.
如果不能推出更好的人才引进政策，国家将坐失加速知识传播和促进自身繁荣的机遇。