International migration, remittances and development: myths and facts

Scientific diasporas, transnationalism and home-country development: evidence from a study of skilled Moldovans abroad

“…This vision emphasizes financial remittances as an important source of growth for home countries (Adams 2003;Agunias 2006;de Haas 2005) and it praises the transnational ties migrants have with their communities of origin (Portes 2001;Vertovec 2004). Transnationalism sees individuals as carriers of their own identity without being uprooted from their home country, and they belong to several places simultaneously whilst building up and maintaining links over borders (Levitt and Glick Schiller 2004;Vertovec 2001).…”

The effects of integration and transnational ties on international return migration intentions

“…However, in recent years this assumed negative correlation has been challenged by the literature on migrant networks and transnationalism, which has shown that technical advances in transport and communication technologies have enabled immigrants to maintain intensive links with their societies of origin via the (mobile) telephone, fax, (satellite) television, the internet, and remitting money through globalized banking systems or informal channels. This has expanded the scope for migrants to foster multiple belongings and double loyalties, to hold dual citizenship, to travel back and forth, and to work and to do business simultaneously in distant places (de Haas 2005;Glick Schiller, Basch, and Szanton-Blanc 1992;Portes 1999;Vertovec 2004). …”

“…This resurgence seems largely to be related to new hopes that politicians and other policy makers have pinned onto temporary migration as an instrument to meet labour market demands while avoiding the permanent settlement of migrants (Barber, Black, and Tenaglia 2005;Castles 2006;Ruhs 2006). In addition, temporary migration has increasingly been conceptualized as beneficial for the development of origin countries, whereby return migrants are often ascribed a key, innovative role in investment and economic development (Agunias 2006;de Haas 2005;Ghosh 2006). Neither temporary migration nor the assumed link between return migration and origin country development are new phenomena or policy ideas.…”

Private money, public scrutiny? Contrasting perspectives on remittances

“…The public debate on remittances and integration, as on other transnational practices, reveals tensions between the mobility of people, the interconnectedness of societies and the boundedness of states (Østergaard-Nielsen 2011). These tensions are also reflected in the increasing acknowledgment over the past decade that, despite prevailing essentialist notions of 'the national', 'loyalty to sending countries is not necessarily in conflict with good citizenship in receiving countries ' (de Haas 2005' (de Haas : 1276. Any perspective that questions this, challenges the inclusion of migrants in society.…”

“…However, research on remittances and development also suggests that they have a limited impact at the national level (Kapur 2005), create inequalities (Latapí 2009), develop dependency among receivers and create difficulties for senders (Horst 2008). Thus, the main concern in the relevant debates has been whether remittances contribute to economic development when measured in terms of poverty alleviation and other economic and social indicators (de Haas 2005).…”