By the early 1950s, the Soviet approach to controlling national movement was emulated by most of the rest of the Eastern Bloc (along with China, Mongolia and North Korea),[56] with heavy restrictions preventing such emigration.[3]:8 A Hungarian economist stated that "it was quite obvious that the socialist countries—like other countries—intended to prevent their professionals, trained at the expense of their society, from being used to enrich other countries."[56] Eastern European spokesmen maintained that they were keeping would-be emigrants from suffering from insufficient linguistic and cultural preparation.[57] They also stressed the debt that individuals owed to socialist states, which offered care from birth, including subsidized education and training[57] and, thus, they justified the emigration restrictions as an "education tax" with the states having a right to recoup its investment.[58] Open emigration policies would create a "brain drain", forcing the state to readjust its wage structure at a cost to other economic priorities.[59] Bulgarian and Romanian representatives had long argued that they could not afford to match western salaries and, without emigration restrictions, they "would become like Africa."[59] The restrictions presented a quandary for some Eastern Bloc states that had been more economically advanced and open than the Soviet Union, such that crossing borders seemed more natural—especially between East and West Germany where no prior border existed.[59]