From productive to cognitive dependence: knowledge-based economies and highly qualified migrants in Latin America

Abstract Since the 1990s, labour markets in the core countries have been extending recruitment fields into other countries to meet the growing demand for qualified workers, creating a situation of international competition. Rethinking the Marxian dependence approach, this paper posits that the international migration of highly qualified workers would account for the consolidation of a specific geography, which includes dominance by knowledge-based economies. The new social formations that arise from the migration of qualified workers bring to the fore the issue of international division of labour and knowledge. In this context, the agenda of knowledge-based economies shows the new forms of contradiction between dependence and development.