The Migration–Development Nexus: Evidence and Policy Options

Migration and development are linked in many ways – through the livelihood and survival strategies of individuals, households, and communities; through large and often well–targeted remittances; through investments and advocacy by migrants, refugees, diasporas and their transnational communities; and through international mobility associated with global integration, inequality, and insecurity. Until now, migration and development have constituted separate policy fields. Differing policy approaches that hinder national coordination and international cooperation mark these fields. For migration authorities, the control of migration flows to the European Union and other OECD countries are a high priority issue, as is the integration of migrants into the labour market and wider society. On the other hand, development agencies may fear that the development policy objectives are jeopardized if migration is taken into consideration. Can long–term goals of global poverty reduction be achieved if short–term migration policy interests are to be met? Can partnership with developing countries be real if preventing further migration is the principal European migration policy goal? While there may be good reasons to keep some policies separate, conflicting policies are costly and counter–productive. More importantly, there is unused potential in mutually supportive policies, that is, the constructive use of activities and interventions that are common to both fields and which may have positive effects on poverty reduction, development, prevention of violent conflicts, and international mobility. This paper focuses on positive dimensions and possibilities in the migration–development nexus. It highlights the links between migration, development, and conflict from the premise that to align policies on migration and development, migrant and refugee diasporas must be acknowledged as a development resource.     

The Migration–Development Nexus: Afghanistan Case Study

This paper looks at the relationship between migration and development in the context of Afghanistan. It begins with a brief outline of the historical and political background to the refugee crisis of the past two decades, and looks briefly at the society and economy of Afghanistan. The history and pattern of aid flows are described and analysed in the next section, followed by consideration of migration and refugee flows over the past two decades, and of remittances and diaspora activities. Repatriation and reconstruction are covered in the following two sections. The penultimate section looks at lessons to be learned for policy making in Afghanistan in the future, and is followed by concluding observations.
A cautionary note on data on Afghanistan: although the recent months have seen a surge of interest and writing on Afghanistan, there has always been a shortage of data on the country. Much writing on Afghanistan, both by journalists and a few academics during the 1980s and 1990s, relates to politics, given the Cold War context of the conflict at the time. Most other data available on Afghanistan tend to come from aid agencies involved in the country. While this provides the bulk of information and data on aid and refugee issues – as reflected in the sources used in this paper – it has little to offer on other aspects of life in Afghanistan, especially on recent history and economy.     

The Migration–Development Nexus: Somalia Case Study

The humanitarian disaster in 1992 made the Somalis known throughout the world. The first image that appeared in the Western part of the world was the broadcast of the famine caused by the civil war. This was followed by the international intervention known as UNOSOM, when CNN covered the landing of the American intervention forces in December 1992. The next image was the fatal confrontation between UNOSOM and the local warlord, General Aideed, which resulted in the withdrawal of UNOSOM in 1995. During that period the West also came to know the Somalis more intimately as thousands of them had fled and spread to North America and Northwestern Europe. This encounter was not without problems, and raised issues such as how to integrate Somalis into society, and how and when they could be expected to return to Somalia. Today, this experience has spurred a new policy trend among Western governments that aims at directing aid to the “neighbouring” areas of refugee–generating conflicts to keep the refugees in their region. These debates are unfortunately often full of myths, and tend to suggest policies often lacking a substantial basis. Hence, this article is part of a project that attempts to shed some light on contemporary migration processes and the possible linkages between the diasporas and the social and economic development in their country of origin. The case study describes the main flows of migration in modern Somali history, and how the emerging Somali diaspora maintains links to their kin via inventive remittance systems. The possible impact of remittances on local development in Somalia is addressed in the paper, and it concludes that the linkages between aid and migration–related resource transfers are multidimensional and that development can lead to migration and vice versa. It also concludes that there is a dire need for more knowledge on the issue, which is reflected in the lack of data found for this specific case. The case shows that poverty is not the only factor for the Somali migration history. Rather, the main reason has been the intertwining of political conflict and the search for economic opportunity. Furthermore, the important effect of remittances on socio–economic development correlates with political stability, providing an environment for productive investments. It is also shown that remittances have been far more important for livelihood and survival in Somalia than development and humanitarian aid put together.     

The Migration–Development Nexus: Sri Lanka Case Study

This paper explores the relationship between migration and development in Sri Lanka, a country that has been the source of large numbers of migrants and the recipient of much development assistance. Commissioned as part of a wider study conducted by the Centre for Development Research, Denmark, this case study seeks to answer a set of specific questions about the nature and extent of links between development assistance and migration flows. The paper surveys the socio–economic context in which both migration and development have taken place in Sri Lanka, describing the causes, scale, and features of migration flows from Sri Lanka in recent decades. Two main streams of migration flows are identified: labour migration and political migration. The flows are distinguished by ethnic characteristics (the former is mostly Sinhalese and the latter pre–dominantly Tamil) and destination (the former to the Middle East and the latter to the West). Both flows have intensified during a time of protracted conflict and in the context of waraffected economic development since the early 1980s.
The importance of remittances from migrants to the Sri Lankan economy and the extent to which diaspora activities impact Sri Lanka are also discussed. Despite the lack of statistics, especially on informal remittances from the Tamil diaspora, it is suggested that the remittances have been and will continue to be a sizeable component of foreign exchange receipts in Sri Lanka. The paper concludes that the complex interactions between migration, development assistance, remittances, and conflict are important for the prospects for peace and reconstruction in Sri Lanka. The challenge in Sri Lanka will be to move from a vicious cycle of conflict, underdevelopment and migration to a more virtuous one. In this process, it is suggested that the diaspora will be a key player in the shift towards peace and remittances will be an integral part of reconstruction.     

The Migration–Development Nexus and Organizational Time

While some migration research looks at how time influences individual migration trajectories, little attention has been paid to the ways in which temporal considerations influence migration and development. We propose the idea of “organizational time” and argue that bringing time into sharper focus calls into question how the categories of migration and return affect organizational change; reveals how the career stage at which migrants leave affects their ability to influence organizational change when they return, and shows how the role of senders and receivers of social remittances shifts over time. We draw on research on the impact of return migration and social remittances on institutional capacity building and policymaking in the health sectors in Gujarat, India to make these arguments.     

The Mass Emigration Context of Lithuania: Patterns and Policy Options

Lithuania represents one of the rare cases in which a state with relatively high standards for maintaining population statistics is experiencing mass emigration. In light of the policy initiatives undertaken by the Lithuanian government to address the issue of emigration, this study aims to improve our understanding of how, in this mass emigration context, emigration events are connected to specific socio‐economic characteristics of individuals and variation in local socio‐economic conditions. We analyse census and vital registration data covering the whole working‐age population of Lithuania during the period 2011‐2012. Our findings indicate that when assessing the likelihood of emigration events, individual‐level characteristics such as employment status, educational attainment, and prior migration experience are highly relevant. However, the importance of these characteristics differs by gender. We also detect considerable spatial variation in emigration rates across Lithuanian municipalities. Our outcomes provide new insights for the development of cohesive migration policies in Lithuania.     

Public Opinion and Foreign Policy Options in Canada

This article examines the role of public opinion in Canada'sattempt to lessen its dependence on the United States and seekcloser ties with European and Asian countries. Employing nationalsurvey data collected over a three-year period, the authorsargue that widespread public support for new directions in foreignpolicy has not developed in Canada in spite of the climate ofincreasing nationalism and the shift in government policy. Attitudestoward the problem of foreign investment, domestic economicissues, trade agreements, and Canadian participation in internationalpeacekeeping forces are also reported.     

The Social Inclusion and Inequality Nexus: EU versus non‐EU migrants

This study examines the relationship between social inclusions of migrant and income inequality. Both positive and negative impacts of social inclusion on income inequality have been observed in the previous literature. This study specifically considers two types of migration flow: migration flow from EU and migration flow from non‐EU. The aim of this article is twofold: 1) is there a strong association between social inclusion of migrants and income inequality, 2) is there any different impact of social inclusion of two types of migrants (EU vs non‐EU)? Using data from 33 mainly European countries over the period 2003‐2015 and controlling for savings rate, arable land rate and age‐dependency ratio, our results indicate that there is a significant negative relationship between social inclusion and income inequality. In particular, we find that social inclusion from non‐EU migrants significantly reduces income inequality compare with EU migrants.     

Elders with Serious Mental Illness: Lost Opportunities and New Policy Options

This article reviews key federal Medicaid policies affecting older adults with serious, long-term mental illness: (a) the Medicaid exclusion of coverage for Institutions for Mental Diseases, (b) the Preadmission Screening and Resident Review Process, and (c) the Medicaid Home and Community Based Services waiver policy. Documenting the incentives and restrictions in these policies provides an historical context for understanding the current gaps in treatment for elders with mental illness. New federal options under the Deficit Reduction Act may provide opportunities for reducing the institutional bias for older adults with mental illness and for improving mental health services for elders under Medicaid.     

Migration Governance and Policy in the Global South: Introduction and Overview

Building knowledge about migration governance and policy in the Global South is a priority for research and policy. The studies in this special section offer both new empirical insights and new frameworks for analysis, with key policy implications, that can enrich our discussion of these topics. They focus on issues that relate to national and sub‐national level governance and policy, speaking both to the impact of diverse governance structures and policies on the well‐being of migrants and host communities, and of the policy‐making process itself and the factors influencing that process. In so doing, they point toward promising directions for future work on these topics and underscore the value of multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and cross‐regional analysis. This essay provides an introduction to the studies included in this collection, framing their contributions in the context of research in development and ongoing global discussions on migration policy.     

The One-Child Policy and Gender Equality in Education in China: Evidence from Household Data

This paper uses individual-level data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey and examines the impact of the one-child policy on gender equality in education in China. The results showed children in one-child households enjoyed significantly improved opportunities for education compared to children inside multiple-child households. The improvement for girls was larger than that of boys. In addition, we found no difference in years of schooling between only-child boys and only-child girls, whereas the gap between boys and girls inside multiple-child households remained significant. In particular, years of schooling for girls having male sibling(s) were 0.62 years lower than that of girls having female sibling(s). These findings suggest the one-child policy inadvertently contributed to greater educational gender equality in China.     

Political‐Economy Analysis,Aid Effectiveness and the Art of Development Management

Recognising that aid effectiveness critically depends upon the quality of host‐country institutions and policies, international aid agencies have sought to inform their activities through more systematic political‐economy analysis (PEA). In this article, three analytical frameworks for PEA are compared, contrasted and critically appraised in the light of reflections by PEA practitioners and recent theoretical debate about development management. The article finds that the potential of PEA to improve development effectiveness depends on how far it addresses the micro as well as macro politics of aid and permits a finer‐grained engagement between analysis and action. This requires more reflexivity on the part of those who commission and produce PEA, and further movement from intervention to interaction modalities for aid delivery.     

新加坡学校教育市场化的政策与实践

1997年,新加坡政府在“思考型学校,学习型国家”理念的指导下,推出了促进学校多样性、自主性和创新性的教育政策。本文第一部分回顾了1997年以来推出的教育政策,强调了这一系列改革如何体现出新加坡教育系统中营销导向的突出特点。第二部分论述如何通过“专长项目计划”这一全国性举措来实现教育的市场化。笔者认为,学校应该首先明确家长和学生的需求,然后再按照能力的不同开发“产品”。     

Migration Policy and Development in Chile

Current and prospective migration law and policy in Chile does not adequately incorporate the causes, content, and consequences of international migration to and from Chile. We describe and examine migration in‐flows, out‐flows, migration‐related policies, and how those policies drive, and are driven by, notions of development in Chile. We explore contradictions in Chilean nascent migration policy currently under legislative review. We argue that it is imperative that migration, migration policy, and their relationship to development be discussed inclusively and transparently and be explicitly incorporated into the Chilean government's nascent migration and development legal policies and frameworks.     

欧美儿童照顾社会政策的发展及借鉴

20世纪70年代以来,儿童照顾问题在西方社会由个体家庭责任演变为普遍的社会需求,被置于国家、市场和家庭关系的政治话语中。面对新的儿童照顾安排需求,欧美国家发展出亲职假、公共儿童照顾服务和经济支持三种途径来重新分配儿童照顾的任务、成本和责任。儿童照顾政策不仅影响妇女的劳动力参与,还与儿童的福利水平高低密切相关。确立照顾权利是公民社会权利的重要组成部分,建构一个由国家、市场、志愿组织和家庭共同提供的"混合照顾"体系,改变照顾工作在家庭内部不平等的性别分工以及把儿童照顾政策作为解决其他社会问题的政策工具都是值得中国借鉴的经验。     

低碳城市的战略选择与模式探索

自2006年起,我国对低碳城市建设进行了有益的理论研究和实践探索。本文在总结分析我国低碳试点城市建设取得的成果、充分借鉴国外低碳城市建设先进经验的基础上,提出了我国低碳城市的建设模式——“六位一体”的低碳城市发展道路,试图为我国的低碳城市建设提供借鉴和参考。     

我国工业园区发展的政策瓶颈及优化对策研究

在我国,各类工业园区是带动和支撑"创新驱动发展,经济转型升级"的关键力量。改革开放以来,国家和各地方政府制定、实施了一系列促进工业园区发展的政策措施,对工业园区的建设和发展起到了决定性作用,但在具体实施中也存在不少问题,造成不同区域、不同园区之间的恶性竞争。我国工业园区发展突破现有的政策瓶颈,需要创新理念、强化顶层设计、强化资源整合,形成"起步有资源、成长有保障、运作有监管"的园区动态扶持政策体系。