Remittances and Rural Underdevelopment in the English-Speaking Caribbean

Rubenstein, Hymie

doi:10.17730/humo.42.4.0709108414538471

Cited by 45 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…There was no significant difference in the amount of land owned (2.3 acres for the sample) between novice and veteran workers, suggesting that seasonal labor migration does not lead to accumulation of the most basic agricultural resource. This evidence is consistent with the findings of other migration studies (see Reichert, 1981, andRubenstein, 1983) and confirms that the opportunity to seasonally migrate, even on a repeated basis, raises the migrant's standard of living but it fails to improve his earning capacity in his own society. The only means for maintaining the higher standard of living is to remain in the migrant stream.…”

Section: Seasonal Labor Migration and The Migrantsupporting

confidence: 91%

The ambiguities of U.S. temporary foreign worker policy

McCoy

1985

Popul Res Policy Rev

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Expansion of temporary worker programs has figured prominently in recent proposals to reform United States immigration policy. The Florida sugar cane industry has been using foreign workers from the English-speaking Caribbean since 1943. The 8000 to 9000 workers annually admitted under section H-2 of the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act to cut cane constitute the largest legal nonimmigrant labor force in the United States. Examination of the Florida H-2 program reveals that existing temporary worker policy is ambiguous, if not contradictory, on the issues of the displacement of domestic workers; the characteristics and value of H-2 workers; their impact on local communities in the United States; and the effects of seasonal labor migration on the migrant and his country. Suggestions for improving policy include strengthening of statutory guidelines and administrative agencies, adoption of a more market-sensitive adverse effect wage rate, making farm labor more attractive to American workers, removing distinctions between foreign and domestic workers, and measures to improve the lot of the migrant and his home society.

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Section: Seasonal Labor Migration and The Migrantsupporting

confidence: 91%

The ambiguities of U.S. temporary foreign worker policy

McCoy

1985

Popul Res Policy Rev

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“…Some have claimed that these remittances generally serve to fuel conspicuous consumption, especially of imported goods, elaborate and luxury housing, along with investment in marginally productive enterprises, such as shops and taxis (Lowenthal and Clarke 1982; Richardson 1975). The argument has been forwarded, therefore, that remittance investments have not always served to rejuvenate the rural economic sector (Brana‐Shute and Brana‐Shute 1982; Rubenstein 1983a, 1983b). In many circumstances, it has led to the ownership of land by those living overseas, and thereby, the creation of what are referred to as “idle lands” (see Brierley 1985; Potter and Welch 1996).…”

Section: The Perceived Shortcomings Of Return Migrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Caribbean Transnational Return Migrants as Agents of Change

Conway

Potter

2006

Geography Compass

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This article challenges several of the firmly held convictions drawn from extant research on return migration to the Caribbean. For many contemporary small island societies undergoing rapid change and transformation, modernization and integration into the wider global economy, today's younger and more youthful return migrants are no longer an ineffective demographic cohort. Despite their numerically small size, many are demonstrating they can be influential “agents of change.” No longer merely returning retirees, they are more diverse, in terms of age, life‐course transitions, class and gendered social positions, family networks, and migration histories. Multiple identities are the rule, rather than the exception, as returnees of different ages choose to live, work (and play) in island society, to give something back to the island home of their parents or of their youth. Many embrace transnational strategies to live in and between two worlds, or more if their family network's reach is multilocal.

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“…Recent "revisionist" research by Massey, Goldring, and Durand (1994) and others (including the authors) finds fault with these "conventional wisdoms," which prematurely dismiss remittances' positive influences on the lives of rural people in Mexico, Latin America, and the Caribbean. that remittances and migrants' savings are largely spent on current consumptionfamily maintenance and health, housing and consumer goods-with little left over for productive use (Reichart 1981(Reichart , 1982Rubenstein 1983Rubenstein , 1992Weist 1984). Furthermore, a general consensus of Latin American and Caribbean regional scholarship is that return migrants are unsuccessful agents of change and rarely contribute to progressive transformations of their home societies (Bovenkerk 1981;Stinner, de Albuquerque, and Bryce-Laporte 1982; Weist 1979).…”

Section: Revisiting the Consequences Of Migration And Remittancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consequences of Migration and Remittances for Mexican Transnational Communities

Conway¹,

Cohen²

1998

Economic Geography

126

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"Our aims in this paper are to broaden explanation of remittance expenditures and to evaluate the positive contributions of remittances, return migrants, or circulating sojourners. Specifically focusing on the situation in ¿home' communities, we illustrate the multifaceted consequences of remittances and migration, emphasizing positive nonmonetary and social impacts." Data are from ethnographic research carried out in 1992-1993 in Santa Ana del Valle, Oaxaca, Mexico.

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Remittances and Rural Underdevelopment in the English-Speaking Caribbean

Cited by 45 publications

References 21 publications

The ambiguities of U.S. temporary foreign worker policy

The ambiguities of U.S. temporary foreign worker policy

Caribbean Transnational Return Migrants as Agents of Change

Consequences of Migration and Remittances for Mexican Transnational Communities

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