Today’s sets of readings focus on brain drain in the ancient world and the present.

Ancient Egyptian brain drain: The discovery of a 2,400 year old Egyptian coffin in 2014 was striking for the unbelievably low quality of artwork with which it was adorned — some Egyptologists initially thought it was a fake. The reason being: “In 525 BC, Persian King Cambyses marched into Memphis, the Egyptian capital, inaugurating a period of Persian rule that would last for more than a century… Ancient texts say that the Persian kings deported Egyptian artists and used them for building projects in Persia.” (Read 2,400-year-old coffin’s ‘odd’ art hints at ancient Egypt’s brain drain in Live Science)

Are share buybacks undermining innovation? For a much longer read is the following Reuters Investigates piece from last November on how share buybacks among top US firms have reached historic levels, in what the piece argues is the pursuit of short term goals over the long term health of corporations. “‘The US is behind on production of everything from flat-panel TVs to semiconductors and solar photovoltaic cells,’ said Gary Pisano, a professor at Harvard Business School…If US companies continue to dole out their cash to investors, he said, economic investment ‘will go where it can be used well. If a company in Germany, India or Brazil has something to do with the money, it will flow there, as it should, and create growth and activity there, not in the United States. It’s a scary scenario.’… Pfizer Inc spent USD 139 bn on buybacks and dividends in the past decade, compared to USD 82 bn on R&D.” (Read The cannibalized company in Reuters Investigates, November 2015)