Do internal and international remittances matter to health,education and labor of children and adolescents? The case of Vietnam

Using data from Vietnam Household and Living Standard Surveys in 2006 and 2008, this study estimates the effect of the receipt of international remittances and internal remittances on education, labor and healthcare utilization of children and adolescents in Vietnam. It shows that there are no statistically significant effects of receipt of remittances on school enrolment as well as child labor of children and adolescents. However, receiving international remittances helps children increase the number of completed grades by around 2% of the average completed grade for children. Both international and internal remittances are positively associated with the number of outpatient health care visits.     

Remittances and inequality: a dynamic migration model

We develop a model to study the effects of migration and remittances on inequality in the origin communities. While wealth inequality is shown to be monotonically reduced along the time-span, the short- and the long-run impacts on income inequality may be of opposite signs, suggesting that the dynamic relationship between migration/remittances and inequality may well be characterized by an inverse U-shaped pattern. This is consistent with the findings of the empirical literature, yet offers a different interpretation from the usually assumed migration network effects. With no need to endogenize migration costs through the role of migration networks, we generate the same results via intergenerational wealth accumulation.     

Impact of Migration on Kerala's Economy and Society

This article reports results of the first migration study covering the entire State of Kerala. It encompasses both measurement as well as analysis of the various types and facets of migration. Migration has been the single most dynamic factor in an otherwise dreary development scenario in Kerala during the last quarter of the twentieth century. Kerala is approaching the end of the millennium with a little cheer in many people's homes as a result of migration which has contributed more to poverty alleviation than any other factor, including agrarian reforms, trade union activities and social welfare legislation. The study shows that nearly 1.5 million Keralites now live outside India. They send home more than Rs.4,000 million a year by way of remittances. Three‐quarters of a million former emigrants have come back. They live mostly on savings, work experience, and skills acquired while abroad. More than a million families depend on an internal migrant's earnings for subsistence, children's education and other economic requirements. Whereas the educationally backward Muslims from the Thrissur‐Malappuram region provide the backbone of emigration, it is the educationally forward Ezhawas, Nairs and Syrian Christians from the former Travancore‐Cochin State who form the core of internal migration. The article also analyses the determinants and consequences of internal and external migration. It offers suggestions for policy formulation directed at optimum utilization of remittances sent home by emigrants and the expertise brought back by the return migrants. Migration in Kerala began with demographic expansion, but it will not end up with demographic contraction. Kerala has still to develop into an internally self‐sustaining economy. The prevailing cultural milieu in which its people believe that anything can be achieved through agitation, and any rule can be circumvented with proper political connections, must change and be replaced by a liberalized open economy with strict and definite rules of the game.     

The impact of migrants' remittances on the Egyptian economy

"The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the impact of the large remittances made by Egyptian migrants to their home country on the Egyptian economy. In order to study this impact, we use the implications of the standard Keynesian model. We estimated the structural equations of the model using annual data for the Egyptian economy over the period from 1970 to 1984.... The results suggest that remittances have had a strong positive impact on GNP in Egypt." The authors note that remittances especially affect private consumption spending. Policy implications concerning labor migration are discussed. (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA)     

Private money,public scrutiny? Contrasting perspectives on remittances

Migrant remittances have received unprecedented attention over the past decade and scholars have interpreted remittance flows from a range of vantage points. In this article, we explore the meaning of remittances from three perspectives – (1) as an ingredient of terrorism and crime; (2) as a contribution to development; and (3) as an obstacle to integration. We explore these perspectives through an analysis of eight years of public debate in Norway and a review of the academic literature. Our analysis shows that remittances are open to public scrutiny, often within a strongly normative framework. Such public scrutiny is at odds with the private nature of remittances and affects migrants' everyday lives both structurally and emotionally. This scrutiny of remittances also suggests underlying assumptions about migrants' legitimate loyalties and belonging that fail to take adequate account of their multiple attachments.     

Worker Remittances and Capital Flows to Developing Countries

Worker remittances constitute an increasingly important channel for the transfer of resources to developing countries. Behind foreign direct investment, remittances are the second‐largest source of external funding for developing countries. Yet, literature on worker remittances has traditionally focused on the impact of remittances on income distribution within countries, on the determinants of remittances at a micro‐level, or on the effects of migration and remittances for specific countries or regions. Macroeconomic determinants and effects of remittances have received more attention only recently. Hence, the focus of this paper is on the macroeconomic determinants of remittances and on differences in these determinants between remittances and other capital flows. We find that remittances respond more to demographic variables while private capital flows respond more to macroeconomic conditions.     

Where do Remittances Go in Household Consumption? Empirical Evidence from Sri Lanka-Wide Micro-data

Private internal and international remittances are a major source of household money in Sri Lanka, yet their impact on household welfare has long been a research gap. Based on the Migration and Development Theory, this article examines how private remittances affect household expenditure behaviour, using nationally representative microdata and applying quasi-experimental methods. Private remittances have significantly increased household per-capita expenditure and initiated positive behavioural changes via increased allocations for basic needs, human and physical capital investment. Compared with internal remittances, the impact of international remittance shows a strong potential for reducing poverty incidence and improving people's well-being: households in richer/richest expenditure quartiles and urban households invest in education, which supports the country's long-standing record of education. Rural households demonstrate favourable changes in spending behaviour with receiving private remittances. From a public policy standpoint, government favours migration so that remittances are more likely to flow. A proper remittance-transfer mechanism to encourage smooth remittance is thus required.     

Social,Economic and Demographic Consequences of Migration on Kerala

Migration has been the single most dynamic factor in the otherwise dreary development scenario of Kerala during the last quarter of the last century. It has contributed more to poverty alleviation and reduction in unemployment in Kerala than any other factor. As a result of migration, the proportion of the population below the poverty line has declined by 12 per cent. The number of unemployed persons – estimated to be only about 13 lakhs in 1998 compared with 37 lakhs reported by the Kerala Employment Exchanges – has declined by over 30 per cent. Migration has caused nearly a million married women in Kerala to live away from their husbands. Most of these so‐called “Gulf wives” experienced extreme loneliness to begin with, and were burdened with added family responsibilities to which they had not been accustomed when their husbands were with them. But over a period, and with a helping hand from abroad over the ISD, most came out of their early gloom. Their gain in autonomy, status, management skills and experience in dealing with the world outside their homes were developed the hard way and would remain with them for the rest of their lives for the benefit of their families and society. In the long run, the transformation of these million women will have contributed more to the development of Kerala society than all the temporary euphoria created by remittances and modern gadgetry. Kerala is dependent on migration for employment, subsistence, housing, household amenities, institution building, and many other developmental activities. The danger is that migration could cease, as shown by the Kuwait war of 1993, and repercussions could be disastrous for the State. Understanding migration trends and instituting policies to maintain the flow of migration is more important today than at any time in the past. Kerala workers seem to be losing out in international competition for jobs in the Gulf market. Corrective policies are needed urgently to raise their competitive edge over workers in competing countries in South and South‐East Asia. Like any other industry, migration from Kerala needs periodic technological upgrading of workers. Otherwise, there is a danger that the State might lose the Gulf market permanently. The crux of the problem is Kerala workers' inability to compete with expatriates from other South and South‐East Asian countries. The solution lies in equipping workers with better general education and job training. This study suggests a twofold approach. In the short run, the need is to improve the job skills of prospective emigrant workers. This could be achieved through ad hoc training programmes focussed on the job market in Gulf countries. In the long run, the need is to restructure the educational system, taking into consideration the future demand of workers not only in Kerala but also in potential destination countries all over the world, including the US and other developed countries. Kerala emigrants need not always be construction workers in the Gulf countries; they could also be software engineers in developed countries.     

Father's Migration and Leaving the Parental Home in Rural Mozambique

Migration is an increasingly common global phenomenon and has important implications for the well‐being of family members left behind. Although extensive research has examined the impact of parental labor migration on school‐age children, less is known about its effect on adolescents. In this study, the authors used longitudinal survey data collected in rural Mozambique (N = 515) to assess the association between father's migration and adolescent children's leaving the parental home, an important component of the transition to adulthood. The results showed that father's migration delays home‐leaving for adolescent girls and that these effects are not mediated by school enrollment. The results for boys were inconclusive. The authors also found that remittances and longer durations of paternal migration were negatively associated with the transition out of the home. On the basis of the findings, they argue that father's migration delays girls' marriage.     

Between two families: the social meaning of remittances for Vietnamese marriage migrants in Singapore

Scholars who have applied transnational perspectives to studies of migration and remittances have called for a move beyond the developmentalist approach to accommodate an expanded understanding of the social meanings of remittances. Researchers working in Asia have begun to view the remittances of money, gifts and services that labour migrants send to their families as transnational ‘acts of recognition’, as an enactment of gendered roles and identities, and as a component of the social practices that create the ties that bind migrants to their ‘home’ countries. In this article, we depart from the more common focus on remittance behaviour among labour migrants and turn instead to examine how, as marriage migrants, Vietnamese women generate and confer meaning on the remittances they send. First, from the women's viewpoint, we discuss the extent to which expectations vested in being able to generate remittances for the natal family by marrying a Singaporean man not only translate into motivation for marriage migration but also shape the parameters of the marriage. Second, we show how sending remittances are significant to the women as ‘acts of recognition’ in the construction of gendered identities as filial daughters, and, through the ‘connecting’ and ‘disconnecting’ power of remittances, in the reimagining of the transnational family. Third, we discuss the strategies that women devise in negotiating between the conflicting demands and expectations of their natal and marital families and in securing their ‘place’ between two families. We base our findings on an analysis of interviews and ethnographic work with Vietnamese women and their Singaporean husbands through commercial matchmaking agencies.     

Overseas workers' remittances in Asian development

In recent years, overseas workers from Asia have been sending remittances of about $8 billion annually to their home countries. These remittances are an important source of precious foreign exchange for the major labor-exporting countries. The overall development impact of remittances, however, has not been well established. Remittances are spent primarily on day-to-day consumption expenditures, housing, land purchase, and debt repayment. Although only a small proportion of remittances are directed into productive investments, this does not warrant the conclusion that the developmental value of remittances is negligible. In fact, remittances spent on domestic goods and services Asia provide an important stimulus to indigenous industries and to the economies of the labor supplying countries. It is these broader macroeconomic benefits of remittances which seem to have been largely ignored in the literature, and this perhaps explains the pessimistic view of the developmental value of remittances. Reservations concerning the effects of remittance on the sending countries include the fears that 1) expenditure patterns of remittance receiving households may create a demonstration effect whereby nonmigrant households may increase consumption, 2) remittance inflow will increase income and wealth inequalities, 3) remittance expenditures may result in inflation, 4) remittances may produce only short-term fluctuations in long-term economic development, and 5) remittances may adversely affect agricultural development.     

Migration Plans and Received Remittances: Evidence from Fiji and Tonga1

This paper investigates the relationship between remittances and migration intentions in the source country using data from households in the Pacific island countries of Tonga and Fiji. Unlike previous research it accounts for potential endogeneity in the relationship between remittances and intentions and also includes households that receive remittances but do not have current migrants. We find a positive impact of remittances on intentions. The impact of remittances on intentions is stronger in a country with a longer history of migration and stronger in households with current migrants than those without migrants. These results provide new evidence on the role of remittances in the development of migration chains.     

PREP SCHOOL AND PUBLIC SCHOOL GRADUATES: WHO ATTENDS COLLEGE REUNIONS,WHO DONATES,WHO DOESN'T,AND WHY

As early as the 1920s, studies at various elite colleges revealed that public school graduates outperformed private school graduates academically, and more recent research indicates various differences in life patterns between these two groups 25 years after graduation. The two new studies presented here, which look at attendance at college reunions and donations to one's college, extend that earlier work. At a New England college, public school graduates were more likely than the private school graduates to attend their 30th, 35th, and 40th year college reunions. Donations to the school showed that public school graduates were somewhat more likely to make contributions than private school graduates, and graduates of the most socially elite boarding schools were especially unlikely to have made contributions. These findings are discussed in terms of the varying roles that prep schools and colleges play in one's identity.     

Cherishing the Goose with the Golden Eggs: Trends in Migrant Remittances from Europe to Morocco 1970–20041

In contrast to earlier predictions, migrant remittances from Europe to Morocco have shown an increasing trend over the past decades. Remittances constitute a vital and relatively stable source of foreign capital. The so‐called “euro effect” and concomitant money laundering can only explain part of the recent, extreme surge in remittances. The structural solidity of remittances is explained by the unforeseen persistence of migration to northwestern Europe; new labor migration toward southern Europe; and the durability of transnational and transgenerational links between migrants and stay‐behinds. The stable economic‐political environment and new “enlightened” policies toward migrants explain why Morocco has been relatively successful in channeling remittances through official channels.     

The Heterogeneous Impact of International Migration on Left‐behind Households: Evidence from Bangladesh

This article investigates the heterogeneous effects of international migration on the expenditure of Bangladeshi migrant households. Adopting a counterfactual framework, we estimate the impact of migration on per capita expenditure of left‐behind households according to their position in the counterfactual expenditure distribution and the length of the migration period. The effects on households’ social mobility and on inequality are also assessed. The analysis indicates that migration has a positive impact on per capita expenditure and represents an important vehicle of social mobility, but may also be a source of inequality. We also find that only a tiny share of international migrants originates from households belonging to the lowest expenditure quintile and, since most of the characteristics which seem to influence the migration decision cannot be shaped by policy interventions, our results also suggest that pro‐migration policies might not be effective in lifting those most in need out of poverty.     

Returns from the South: Effects of return migration of Ghanaian migrants from China on livelihoods and wealth inequalities in Ghana

The sedentary bias that characterizes discourses on migrations from and within the Global South has failed to inform a consistent exploration of international migration from and among global southern countries as normal, desirable and impactful to migrants and their social networks at different spatial levels. Migration-development nexus analyses are predominantly framed around Global South-Global North migration episodes whereby cash and social remittances from the North to the South are expected to trigger development in poorer global southern origin countries. This approach neglects the possibility of similar outcomes accruing from south-south migrations. Drawing on qualitative research methods among Ghanaian migrants to China, our paper addresses the question how does south-south migration affect livelihoods and wealth inequality? We argue that blunt global categorizations such as “Global South” and “Global North” only serve to obfuscate what is a rather heterogenous bunch of countries, with divergent opportunities for migrants. We recommend that greater focus should be on the contextual factors at the origin and destination, the quality of return preparedness and the human capital of the migrants rather than an arbitrary clustering around a binary Global South-Global North trajectory as though they are internally homogenous. We conclude that there is heterogeneity in the effects of south-south migration on household livelihoods and wealth inequalities.     

“Whom should We Help First?” Transnational Helping Practices in Ecuadorian Migration

Collective remittances, in the framework of migrant transnationalism, have been recently dealt with in some empirical research, especially on the Mexican‐US migration system. Far less studied is their significance in different migration flows, including their real contribution – as desirable as this may be – to local development. The article is concerned with a bottom up analysis of a migration flow where collective remittances – as the only way for emigrants to keep helping their local communities, well beyond their own families – are still in their infancy. It explores, through a translocal ethnography of Ecuadorian migration to Italy, the underlying attitudes, personal meanings and expectations – as well as the structural opportunities and constraints – accounting for helping practices at a distance. Charitable transfers to communities of origin are reconstructed as to their motivations, their main aims and beneficiaries, their embeddedness in mutual networks among immigrant co‐nationals. How is it that some of them decide to help “people in need” in their own communities overseas, or in their home towns, or in both? Is this an expression of communal belonging, or a matter of social status maintenance, or something else? Further reflections on the dilemmas inherent in transnational helping practices are then developed. Concluding remarks emphasize the relatively poor scope for such initiatives, in a recent and first‐generation flow over a long distance. While co‐ethnic solidarity overseas is a precondition for transnational helping practices, the latter are also affected by the developments of public policies in the countries of origin and of destination. Overall, an effective integration overseas is necessary for collective remittances to have some currency and impact.     

Wealth in Middle and Old Age in Mexico: The Role of International Migration1

This article examines the impact that past migration to the U.S. has on the current economic well‐being of individuals in middle or old age who have returned to Mexico. A priori, the net effect of U.S. migration on wealth among return migrants is difficult to predict; there are counteracting factors that can affect wealth positively or negatively. Using data from the Mexican Health and Aging Study 2001 and correcting for selection factors, the long‐term effect of U.S. migration for return migrants was found consistently positive in terms of their accumulated personal wealth at middle and old age. This article speculates about the possible mechanisms that can explain this apparent advantage.     

All modes lead to home: assessing the state of the remittance art

The art of sending remittances overlaps with migration, technological innovation and marketing – three of globalization's driving forces. All things being equal, the role of innovation with regard to remittances is to reduce transaction costs in making these transfers. Yet, other aspects of the marketing mix come into play apart from the price of sending remittances such as product user‐friendliness, the location of senders and beneficiaries, and the promotion of these technologies. In this article, I assess the state of the remittance art in terms of meeting the needs of remittance senders and beneficiaries and future directions that this domain may take due to further diffusion of innovations. Remittance technologies represent a promising direction in which cutting edge technology is harnessed to focus on developing world concerns. By enlisting the talents of the world's foremost product and service designers, private sector initiatives such as these can play a role in helping ease poverty's penalties.     

International Migrants' Remittances and Welfare Status of the Left‐Behind Families in Turkey

In this study, micro implications of remittances are examined based on the data from the 1996 Turkish International Migration Survey (TIMS‐96), part of a comprehensive study of Eurostat and the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI). Results of the study imply that migrant savings are generally used for satisfying basic consumption needs. Patterns of expenditures suggest that for 12 percent of all the households receiving remittances, about 80 percent used remittances to improve their standard of living. Considering the variation by regions, it is observed that households in less‐developed regions spent more on daily expenses than those in developed regions. This suggests that daily expenses of households in less developed regions depend significantly on remittances received by households. Moreover, remittances have a positive impact on household welfare; households receiving remittances are found to be better off than nonremitting households. This suggests that migration and remittances have positive indirect effects on incomes of emigrant households. A considerable part of the relevant literature argues that remittances are mostly spent on consumption, housing and land and are not used for productive investment that would contribute to long‐run development. This conclusion often rests on arbitrary definitions of “productive investments.” Access to better nutrition and allocation of more resources to education are, without question, forms of productive investment. Although emigration does not serve as a solution to the problems of national development, it is evident that remittances generate considerable welfare effects, at least for the remittance‐receiving population.