Migration and development research and policies

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Migration and developmentresearch and policies

• Basic course, IDS, March 2009

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Sections

• Research findings the virtuous versus the
  vicious cycle and beyond
• Migration policies is co-development a
  solution?
• Economic remittances a development tool?
• Social remittances the cultural flows

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How is migration and development connected? What
comes first?

• Parts of the same process, constantly interactive
• Transfers, exchanges remittances economic and
  social
• Example creation of 5Ts factors which
  integrere in the global economy
• - tourism, telecommunication, trade,
  transfers, transportation (Orosco 2003)

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Migration and development research findings

• Emigration does not follow from poverty, but from
  
• The social crisis caused by integration to the
  world market and modernization (intensification
  of agriculture, labour surplus, unemployment)
• Global cultural exchanges, exacerbated by
  technological innovation
• Economic growth will (initially) lead to
  emigration
• policies meant to encourage development instead
  of emigration are dubious

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Newer approaches

• NELM (new econmics labour migration) challenging
  methodological individualism
• Dual or segmented labour market theory
• Migration networks theory
• Transnational migration theory
• (Castles 2008)

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Migration-development policies

• Regulation of cross-border movements
• Aid directed towards sending countries (the
  root-causes approach)
• Remittances as development tools? (e.g. reducing
  transfer costs)
• Co-development usurpation of the interlinks
  migration and development

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UN report 2006, Kofi Annan on co-development

• Migrants could be highly beneficial for their
  countries of origin and destination. The world is
  in the midst of a new migration era, and
  migration is today indeed a global phenomena.
• -international migration constitutes an ideal
  means of promoting co-development, that is the
  coordinated or concerted improvement of economic
  conditions in boh areas of origin and destination
  based on the complementarities between them

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Co-development

• Mexico 2 for 1 and 3 for 1- arrangements between
  hometown associations and regional governments
• Spain Catalan government donating funding for
  projects in Morocco, Honduras, Senegal, in
  cooperation with NGOs, migrant organisations and
  receiving local society
• Italy/ France Encouraging Return migration

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International monetary remittances express

• Long-distance solidarity
• Reciprocity (e.g. recognition)
• Obligations that connect migrants with their
  families and local societies in the sending
  country
• International remittances are
• Individual collective
• Formal informal (NB under-estimation?)
• - an important macro-economic factor?
• - source to external funding of development in
  developing countries

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Economic remittances depend on context

• The legal status of migrants
• status on the labour market
• Subsistence conditions in the receiving compared
  to the sending country
• Political risk
• Civil status
• Lenght of time in receiving country a.m.

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Economic remittances

• Amount to approximately 200 billion USD (2006)
• More than half of the direct investment share
  from foreign investors in developing countries
• A large share of the flow of capital on the
  global financial market
• Exceed the official deveopment aid on a global
  level
• 60 of total remittances are forwarded to
  developing countries apparently countries on a
  medium income level
• (Nyberg Sørensen 2004 www.diis.dk)
• Creation of 5Ts factors which integrere in
  the global economy
• - tourism, telecommunication, trade,
  transfers, transportation (Orosco 2003)

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Advantages, economic remittances

• Remittances are more stable less influenced by
  changing economic conjectures (difficult to
  regulate)
• Increase incomes - increase of migration with 10
  can reduce the part of the population living
  for less than 1 usd/ day with 1.6
• Lift receivers out of poverty
• Are spent on building schools and clinics, roads
  and churches/ mosques a.m.

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Disadvantages, economic remittances

• Less emphasis on productive investments
• More emphasis on immediate consumption
• Increased social inequality receivers versus
  non-receivers
• Dependency local productivity decreases,
  education is discouraged etc.
• Private aid difficult to regulate or steer in
  any direction

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Main actors

• Forwarders
• - Work migrants
• - Refugees
• Both genders, but according to the same pattern?
• Receivers
• Dependent family members who have remained in the
  sending country
• Priorities
• Supporting the family
• Improved accomodation
• secondly
• Improved health
• Education
• The local society

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Other actors

• Hometown associations
• Forwarding collective remittances
• Market actors
• E.g. travel agencies
• Job agents
• Governments
• Bureaus/ ministeries (emigration office) and
  other agencies that offer their services to
  migrants
• Double citizenship and othre favorable conditions
  with the purpose of maintaining the loyalty of
  migrants
• Transfer systems
• Formal (banks, Western Union)/ informal

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Social remittances

• Ideas, practices, identities and social capital
  which are transferrred from receiving country to
  sending country
• - social actors are primarily migrants
  (purposeful innovators etc), but in co-operation
  with non-migrants in local sending societies

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Example I

• When they return from France, migrants tell
  that when it comes to buraucracy, its easy. When
  they ask for some papers a birth cerificate, no
  matter what papers, youll get it on the spot.
  And once they have told you its not possible,
  its not possible.
• Here in Morocco, no not just in Morocco, in all
  Arabic and 3rd world countries, its the same
  thing. Here it takes 24 hours to obtain a birth
  certificate. Its not normal. It takes no more
  than 30 seconds to produce it. One misses a
  certain honesty and respect. From
  Schade-Poulsen 1998, my translation

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Example IISezer, board member of an Home Town
Association of the Konya region, interview in
Cph., April 2006.

• I say in advance that we need an agenda, in
  advance of each board meeting. So that activities
  here will increase. I dont think its relevant
  and our task to pay for peoples litter bins and
  renovation. That is not our job its a task of
  the state. Its a task of the Turkish state.
• I would agree to perhaps teaching the people who
  live down there how to ask the state for help. I
  would like to comply with that. Help them,
  support them and advice them to get help from the
  Turkish state, instead of paying them.

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Kücükkale

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New houses in Kücükkale
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The clerk explained that vacation for the
employed of the municipality was out of the
question during summer

• When all those who live in Europe come here
  during summer, we are working. Projects in the
  village get going.
• We are very happy that the ones who have left
  return to the village they bring good ideas for
  projects in Kücükkale. We discuss them together,
  and that is how we cooperate.

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Kurdish Hometown associations

• The business (or entrepreneurial) migrant
• - primarily economic remittances
• The integration activist
• Primarily social remittances