In the past twenty years almost three quarters of a million Russian Jews have emigrated to the West. Their presence in Israel, Europe and North America and their absence from Russia have left an indelible imprint on these societies. The emigrants themselves as well as those who stayed behind, are in a struggle to establish their own identities and to achieve social and economic security
In this volume an international assembly of experts historians, sociologists, demographers and politicians join forces in order to assess the nature and magnitude of the impact created by this emigration and to examine the fate of those Jews who left and those who remained. Their wide-ranging perspectives contribute to creating a variegated and complex picture of the recent Russian Jewish Emigration.

This 1978 study of the international migration of high-level manpower, popularly referred to as the 'brain drain', is based on data collected during the 1960s and 1970s. Whilst explaining the migration, Professor Ritterband analyzes the educational system of Israel as well as two other sample countries and the relationship between education and occupational success. He contends that one cause of the 'brain drain' is the mismatch of the educational qualifications of the job seekers and the higher demands of the employers. Professor Ritterband shows that the higher the level of education of the labor force in the home country, the higher the rate of the 'brain drain'. He also demonstrates, contrary to popular belief, that those who are less successful in the educational system in their homeland are less likely to emigrate than those who achieve academic success. The study examines the various contemporary public policy alternatives and develops a method for measuring their effectiveness.