Global migration and development

Global Migration
and Development


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15. Global Migration and
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Edited by Ton van Naerssen, Ernst
Spaan and Annelies Zoomers


Global Migration
and Development

Edited by

Ton van Naerssen,
Ernst Spaan
and
Annelies Zoomers

New York London


First published 2008
by Routledge

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Global migration and development / edited by Ton van Naerssen, Ernst Spaan, and Annelies
Zoomers.
p. cm. — (Routledge studies in development and society ; 15)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-415-96247-6 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Transnationalism—Economic
aspects. 2. Economic development. 3. Emigrant remittances. I. Naerssen, A. L. van.
II. Spaan, Ernst. III. Zoomers, E. B.
JV6217.G56 2008
338.9—dc22
ISBN 0-203-93839-9 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN10: 0-415-96247-1 (hbk)
ISBN10: 0-203-93839-9 (ebk)
ISBN13: 978-0-415-96247-6 (hbk)

ISBN13: 978-0-203-93839-3 (ebk)

2007025394


Contents

List of Figures
List of Tables
List of Boxes
Preface and Acknowledgments
1

Globalization, Migration, and Development

ix
xi
xv
xvii
1

TON VAN NAERSSEN, ERNST SPAAN AND ANNELIES ZOOMERS

PART I

The Role and Impact of Family Remittances
2

The Complex Role of Migration in Shifting Rural Livelihoods:
A Moroccan Case Study

21

HEIN DE HAAS

3

International Migration in Indonesia and its Impacts on
Regional Development

43

GRAEME HUGO

4

Migrant Remittances and Development in Bolivia and Mexico:
A Comparative Study

66

VIRGINIE BABY-COLLIN, GENEVIÈVE CORTES AND LAURENT FARET

5

The Role of Remittances in the Transnational Livelihood
Strategies of Somalis

91

CINDY HORST

PART II

Diasporas and Development at Home
6

Migration, Collective Remittances, and Development:
Mexican Migrant Associations in the United States
GASPAR RIVERA-SALGADO AND LUIS ESCALA RABADÁN

111


vi

Contents

7

Global Workers, Local Philanthropists: Filipinos in Italy
and the Tug of Home

130

FABIO BAGGIO AND MARUJA M. B. ASIS

8

Migrant Involvement in Community Development:

The Case of the Rural Ashanti Region–Ghana

150

MIRJAM KABKI, VALENTINA MAZZUCATO AND TON DIETZ

9

We Are Bridging Cultures and Countries: Migrant
Organizations and Development Cooperation in the
Netherlands

172

TON VAN NAERSSEN

PART III

Transfer of Knowledge, Skills, and Ideas
10 The Diaspora Option as a Tool Toward Development?
The Highly Qualified Ghanaian Diaspora in Berlin
and Hamburg

195

KATHARINA GOETHE AND FELICITAS HILLMANN

11 The Development Potential of Caribbean Young Return
Migrants: Making a Difference Back Home

213

ROBERT B. POTTER AND DENNIS CONWAY

12 (Post) Colonial Transnational Actors and Homeland
Political Development: The Case of Surinam

231

LIZA M. NELL

PART IV

Comprehensive Studies
13 Ambivalent Developments of Female Migration: Cases from
Senegal and Lebanon

253

FENNEKE REYSOO

14 Migration and Development: Migrant Women in South Korea
HYE-KYUNG LEE

269


Contents vii
15 Homeward-Bound Investors: The Role of Overseas
Chinese in China’s Economic Development

288

MAGGI W. H. LEUNG

16 Conceptualising Indian Emigration—The Development Story

309

PARVATI RAGHURAM

Contributors
Index

327
333



List of Figures

2.1

Ideal-typical household migration trajectories within
the household life cycle, Morocco

31

2.2

Age and labour migration participation of men, Morocco

34

2.3

Mean income composition by household migration status,
Morocco

38

3.1

Indonesians by country of residence, OECD Countries

45

3.2

Number of Indonesian overseas workers processed by the
Ministry of Manpower, 1979–2005

47

Indonesia: Province of origin of officially registered overseas
workers, 1989–1992

50

Indonesia: Areas of origin of workers deported from Sabah

to East Kalimantan, 1994–1998

52

3.5

Indonesia: Growth of remittances, 1983–2005

53

3.6

Indonesia selected areas: Remittances compared with regional
government revenue (PAD) in billion Rupiah, 2001–2003

54

Goods/money brought back at the time of the last return
(the % of the migrants that brought back some goods/money
in each area), Bolivia and Mexico

73

Migratory remittances use typology (% of the number
of families), Bolivia and Mexico

75

Migrants with productive investments by age bracket,
Bolivia and Mexico

78

3.3

3.4

4.1

4.2

4.3


x
4.4

4.5

4.6

4.7

4.8

4.9

List of Figures
Distribution of remittance amounts according to gender
at the time of the last migration (% of migrants), Bolivia

and Mexico

79

Households with productive investments according to
the family profiles of activity in the places of origin,
Bolivia and Mexico

81

Remittance capacities according to the migratory status
at the time of the last migration, Bolivia and Mexico

82

Remittance capacities according to migration periods
(% of migrants with remittances according to the year
of their last departure), Bolivia and Mexico

84

Families with productive investments according to the
number of journeys made, Bolivia and Mexico

84

Families with productive investments according to family
migratory duration, Bolivia and Mexico

85

10.1 Development over time of the number of Ghanaians
in Germany, male and female (1967–2005)

200

14.1 Marriages between foreigners and Koreans, according
to sex, 1990–2004

276

14.2 Nationality of foreign female spouses, Korea, 1990–2004

276

15.1 Map of China

291

15.2 Special Economic Zones, Open Coastal Cities, and
Open Economic Regions in China

298


List of Tables

2.1

Position within household by migration status of

individuals above 15 years, Morocco

29

2.2

Economic activities by household migration status, Morocco

36

2.3

Sources of income by household migration status, Morocco

37

3.1

Settler arrivals, birthplace country Indonesia by occupation
and sex, 1998–99 to 2004–05

46

Indonesia: Estimated stocks of overseas contract workers
around 2005

48

Indonesia and the Philippines: Workers’ remittances
relative to exports and imports in US$ Million, 1980–2005

49

East Flores study village: Return and recent migrants:
The main use made of the money sent home within
the last five years, 1998

56

Survey villages migrants still away: Family perceptions of
whether absence of migrant had effected agricultural
production, East Nusa Tenggara

58

East Flores survey villages migrants still away: Effects on
family decision making

61

Migratory characteristics in the zones of study, Bolivia and
Mexico

70

3.2

3.3

3.4

3.5

3.6

4.1


xii
4.2

4.3

6.1

List of Tables
Amount of remittance (sent and/or brought back) for
the last stay abroad (as part of the total of migrants
for each area of study), Bolivia and Mexico

72

Family use of the remittances (% of families that quoted
the type of use in every zone of study), Bolivia and Mexico

75

Number of Mexican HTAs in the United States by states
of origin and destination (1998–2003)

114

6.2

Total funding for the ‘3 for 1 Program’ in Zacatecas

117

6.3

Investment amounts and types of projects funded
through the ‘3 for 1 Program’ for the periods 1999–2003,
2004–05, and 2006

118

Annual deployment of Filipino workers and remittances,
1975–2005

131

Top ten destinations of landbased OFWs deployed
in 2005 (new hires and rehires), the Phillipines

135

7.3

Profile of respondents, Filipinos-Italy

136

8.1

Volume of migrant support to 26 rural Ashanti
communities

152

(Appendix) Migrant support to public utilities in 26 rural
Ashanti communities since the period of mass migration

167

Institutions and rules pertaining to development in Asiwa,
Brodekwano, Offinso, Kumawu, and Mampong, anno 2004

156

Breakdown of 2003 Asiwa Easter Harvest: contributions
made towards Asiwa development

158

14.1

Female migrant workers by industry (%) Korea, 2002

273

14.2

Employment of foreign wives in Korea, 2005

278

15.1

Top ten origins of foreign direct investment in
China, 2005

293

7.1

7.2

8.1

8.2

8.3


List of Tables xiii
15.2

15.3

Distribution of foreign direct investment by aggregated

sector in China, 2002–2004

295

Geographical distribution of foreign direct investment
in China, 2002–2004

297



List of Boxes

8.1

Asiwa electrification project

162

8.2

Brodekwano education project

163

8.3

Mampong market project

165

Preface and Acknowledgments

Human mobility is a core feature of globalization and is one of the most
debated issues of today. Although there is still a bias on the impact of migration on countries of destination in the existing literature, attention is shifting
toward the positive role of migrants for local development in the countries
of origin. As investors, transnational entrepreneurs, and brokers of knowledge and technology, migrants have been discovered as important actors
in development by academics, policymakers, and international institutions
such as the World Bank and the United Nations.
The aim of this book is to contribute to the international discussion on
migration and development by presenting novel insights on the basis of new
empirical evidence from original research in various countries around the
globe. From the start we strived to go beyond the purely economic aspects
of the migration and development nexus and to focus on a wide range of
impacts including the economic, political, and social. The contributions in
the book reflect this intention.
The book has its origin in the Conference “Asia and Europe: Exploring
Transnationalism, Multiple Linkages and Development,” held in Manila
in January 2005. At the end of the conference, the initiators announced
the intention of starting a book project around this subject, along with the
expansion of the regional focus to include Africa and Latin America as well.
Shortly afterwards, the Migration and Development Research Group (Chair
Human Geography) at Radboud University, Nijmegen (The Netherlands)
started its activities. In addition, a working group International Migration and Development was organized within the framework of the Dutch
Research School of Resource Studies for Development (CERES). One of
the first activities was to participate at the CERES Summer School in June
2005 where the papers presented included a number by some of the contributors to this volume. Not long after, a call for contributions was made
and in autumn 2006 a book proposal was submitted to the publisher, who

accepted it with some minor revisions some months later.
We like to thank a number of people and institutes without which this
book would not have come to fruition. First, we thank the authors for their
patience and willingness to revise and shorten their contributions. We are


xviii

Preface and Acknowledgments

grateful to CERES and the Chair of Geography, Radboud University Nijmegen for supporting the CERES work group and financially contributing
to the book project. Thanks are also due to Ludgard Roelen of InfoBever
for assisting in technical editing and On the Record for English language
correction. At Routledge, Benjamin Holtzman and Liz Levine provided
valuable guidance in preparing the manuscript. Finally, we appreciate the
institutional support for this project from the Netherlands Interdisciplinary
Demographic Institute (NIDI), the Centre for Latin American Research and
Documentation in Amsterdam and the Radboud University Nijmegen.
The Editors
June 2007
Nijmegen (The Netherlands)


1

Globalization, Migration,
and Development
Ton van Naerssen, Ernst Spaan
and Annelies Zoomers

International migration is one of the key issues of today. Even though people
have moved and settled across borders ever since early history, it has never
reached the magnitude and extent as presently. The United Nations estimated that there were 191 million migrants worldwide in 2005, an increase
of 26 million compared to a decade earlier (United Nations, 2006a). In the
period 1995–2005, the proportion of women among the migrant population
remained at about 50%, and the geographical distribution of migration was
rather stable: Europe (33 to 34% of total stock) and North America (from
23 to 26%) showed a slight increase at the expense of Africa (11–9%), Asia
(29–28%) and Latin America (4–3%).
International migration is increasingly important, even though the
majority of today’s population movements still is internal and takes place
in poor countries with high rates of population growth and rural-urban
migration. Some 3% of the total world population was born outside
the country where they are currently living. The impact is, however, far
greater than this percentage suggests. International migration not only
touches the lives of the migrant population, but also influences the lives
of nonmigrant populations. Once people decide to cross borders and to
settle in other countries, both their personal life and that of their families they leave behind will profoundly change, not only economically, but
also socially and culturally. This also applies to the people with whom
they live and communicate within the localities and regions of settlement.
Contemporary migration manifests itself in all corners of the globe and
transforms entire societies as a consequence of a constant stream of people leaving and/or entering.
Migration systems connecting places by way of flows of people are
becoming increasingly complex (Skeldon, 1997). International migration
takes place in many directions: from south to south, between east and west,
from south to north, and vice versa. The majority of international migration takes place among neighbouring countries in the poorer parts of the
world, in part due to wars that leads to massive displacements of people
who seek protection across the borders. Except for south-south migration,
in recent years, within Europe, substantial cross-border east-west labour

2

Ton van Naerssen, Ernst Spaan and Annelies Zoomers

migration took place (van Naerssen & van der Velde, forthcoming). Nevertheless, south-north migration is also increasing. People from the south
migrate north searching for new opportunities to improve their lives, and
although in many developing countries the welfare has improved, as demonstrated by the growth in GNP per capita, higher life expectancy and
improvement of basic services, widespread unemployment and poverty
continue to exist (United Nations Development Programme, 2006). People in poor countries have better possibilities than before to observe the
welfare and life styles of people in the rich countries by global means of
communication (TV, video, mobile phone, and internet), which raise their
expectations and provide them with information about opportunities elsewhere and the trajectories along which to move.
Immigration to the north is generating new patterns of transnationalism, heterogeneity, and hybridism (e.g., dual citizenship), which is often
perceived as a source of ethnic tensions and/or threat to the nation-state.
Notwithstanding the fact that mobility is an integral and essential feature of
globalization, at present rich countries are implementing restrictive international migration regimes. Although stimulating the free movement of capital
and commodities as part of neoliberal policies, governments of destination
areas (i.e. the United States and the European Union) are searching for new
ways to effectively control labour migration.
This book aims to provide an up-to-date overview of the diverse forms
and global nature of international migration in relation to development processes. It is within the framework of globalization, world poverty, people’s
mobility, and restrictive migration regimes that the question of international
migration and its impact on development in countries of origin has entered
the (political) arena. This book addresses the subject and intends to present
an up-to-date account, to show the complexity of the problem and to open
up new perspectives for future research.
At the international level, reports of the World Bank (2003a; 2003b;
2006), the International Organization for Migration (2001; 2005; Farrant,
MacDonald & Sriskandarajah, 2006), the Global Commission on International Migration (GCIM 2005), and the UN High-Level Dialogue on

Migration and Development (held September 2006) optimistically pointed
out that international migration comprises a huge potential for development. In particular, the size and the growth of migrants’ remittances are
mentioned as positive factors. According to the World Bank, remittance
transfers to developing countries increased from US $58 billion in 1995 to
about US $167 billion in 2005, which is more than the official development
aid. Remittances are said to have contributed to a decline in poverty (World
Bank, 2006). Optimism also colours the opinion on the role of transnational
communities in development, which also receives increasing attention from
state and multilateral institutions (Levitt & Nyberg-Sorensen, 2004).
However, there are several reasons why international migration will not
automatically lead to development. Much will depend on the volume and


Globalization, Migration, and Development

3

direction of migration (i.e. the shifts in migration frontiers), the composition of the flows (low versus highly skilled etc.), the degree of feminization
of labour migration, the consequences of the rise of migration industries
(labour recruiters and smugglers), the degree of circulation and return of
migrants and the politicization of migration. Migration is defined on the
basis of a multitude of different concepts and definitions (such as place
of birth, citizenship, residence, duration of stay and purpose of stay) and
comparison between countries is complicated, and it is not easy to make
generalizations.
Migration is increasingly complex—there are many subcategories of
labour migrants, and each of these will have its own impact. In addition
to the coerced migrants (e.g., political refugees) and voluntary migrants
(e.g., labour migrants), there are long-distance and short-distance
migrants; permanent migrants, temporary migrants who stay on contract

for 3–5 years abroad, and (transient) circular migrants on short-time contracts who regularly return to their home places, etcetera. Migrants can
further be differentiated by age groups (children, working-age people,
and pensioners), by gender, by education and skills (low skilled and high
skilled) and generation (first, second, and even third generation). These
various categories of migrants will maintain diverse links with the origin
countries and by consequence impact in different ways on the development in the home areas (many of these subcategories will be dealt with
in this volume).
Much value is currently attached in discussions to the developmental
role of migrant communities and diasporas. Even though strictly speaking
the notion of diaspora only relates to the forced displacement of an ethnic
group outside its original area (such as the Jews and the Armenians), the
terms are often used intermittently. Diasporas usually encompass the whole
ethnic group living abroad—regardless of the length of stay in the country
of settlement, whereas migrant communities usually comprise two or three
generations only. Migrant communities are assumed to be transnational and
by consequence their members will live in two countries, mentally as well as
behaviourally. These transnationals are now considered as agents for development and their finance, knowledge and skills should be mobilized (see the
earlier cited international reports), although there are also critical voices.
A key question concerns the understanding of development. The concept of development itself is a contested concept. It encompasses more than
economic development and contains different and inter-related aspects.
Development can be defined as sustainable economic growth, as social
advancement, as increasing equity, as increasing democracy and freedom,
and as all of these together. The links between international migration and
development are thus multidimensional and complex. Fundamental questions concern which people at home benefit from migration, where they live,
in what processes of development they are involved and whether these are
sustainable or not.


4

Ton van Naerssen, Ernst Spaan and Annelies Zoomers

MIGRATION-DEVELOPMENT APPROACHES AND THEORIES
During the past decades different approaches to and discourses on the
migration-development nexus have been devised and discussed (Spaan,
Hillmann & van Naerssen 2005). Nevertheless, until recently, the multifaceted link between migration and development has not really come to
the fore in theory and research. Where the relationship between migration
and development processes was explicitly acknowledged, the emphasis was
mainly on economic aspects, among which the impact of remittances and
the detrimental consequences of the brain drain for local labour markets in
the countries of origin (Papademetriou & Martin, 1991 p. 5). Only recently,
phenomena such as circular migration, brain gain, skill formation, migrant
entrepreneurship, social remittances, transnational philanthropy and politics, and the role of (return) migrants and the diasporas in development in
origin countries have been emphasised more.
The neoclassical migration approach, framed within the modernization approach of development and underdevelopment, basically posits an
imbalance in the spatial distribution of resources (land, labour, capital),
which through migration flows are adjusted until a new equilibrium has
been reached. According to this approach, people from areas and countries characterized by resource deficiencies, unemployment, low wages and
marginal productivity, are attracted to areas or countries characterized by
relative labour scarcities but with abundant capital, resources and higher
wages. The outflow of labour migrants from the underdeveloped and rural
regions is beneficial because it will lead to a more balanced distribution of
capital and labour that furthers economic development in the out-migration region. In the destination country, the inflow of cheap labour fosters
production and ultimately the differentiation between sending and receiving
areas flats out and a new balance in wages and resource distribution has
been achieved (Todaro, 1969). The decision to migrate is assumed to be voluntary and grounded in a rational, individual decision taking into account
the expected income differentials and employment opportunities (Harris &
Todaro, 1970). The theories based on the neoclassical approach are rather
optimistic about the impact of migration on sending areas since they expect
that overpopulation, unemployment, and poverty will be reduced. A contraflow of investment capital is assumed to take place as well as a limited

flow of highly-skilled workers (Massey et al., 1993 p. 433). As long as the
benefits of staying and working abroad (e.g., in terms of wages, education,
and prestige) outweigh the costs, neoclassical theories assume that migrants
will not return (Constant & Massey, 2002).
This approach is based on a number of assumptions that can be challenged, particularly in the context of developing countries. First, migration
is not necessarily voluntary, as it is often induced by sheer necessity resulting from poverty, war, oppression, or restrictive state policies. The assumption of the rational cost-benefit calculating individual is also contestable;


Globalization, Migration, and Development

5

nonmigrants often stay for social reasons even when conditions at home
are less favourable. Migration decisions are not taken individually, but
prospective migrants are embedded in social units and hierarchical power
relations, such as households, kinship systems, patron-client relations and
gender roles, which constrain their autonomy and individual decision-making power. Moreover, it is assumed that potential migrants dispose of full
knowledge about wages and job opportunities elsewhere on the basis of
which they make their decisions. In reality, information on other countries
is incomplete and often filtered by actors who have an interest in migration. Particularly, in the worldwide migration industry, run by recruitment
agencies, labour brokers and smuggling networks, information is often a
valuable commodity that is manipulated for commercial purposes. In short,
neoclassical theories are too economic in nature and leave out social, cultural and policy dimensions.
One of the theories of the general neoclassical approach explicitly
focuses on the migration-development nexus. The so-called balanced
growth approach postulates the net positive effects of rural out-migration
for individual migrants and their areas of origin (Kindleberger, 1965; Griffin, 1976). It emphasizes the basic notion that out-migration from underdeveloped, peripheral regions will lead to a new equilibrium between capital
and labour. It argues further that migrant remittances will contribute to
the welfare because they create a new demand for locally produced commodities and services, which has a positive effect on local employment and
income. This theory is also optimistic about the beneficial effects of the

remittances on income distribution in the sending areas. Besides, return
migrants bring back innovative ideas and skills, all of which can be put to
use in a productive way.
In reaction to the neoclassical modernization approach, the historicalstructural approach, including dependency theories, centre-periphery models and world system theory focus on the macro level and emphasize the
unequal distribution and exchange of resources, including human capital.
In this view, next to flows of capital, commodities, and knowledge, international labour migration is part of a process of historical socioeconomic
transformation. The developed world and the less developed countries
become increasingly interdependent, whereby capitalist accumulation in the
developed world goes hand in hand with the incorporation and exploitation
of developing economies. International labour migration only reinforces the
unequal distribution of resources in that investment in the skilled and innovative population is lost to the sending countries through out migration,
thus aggravating underdevelopment (brain drain).
In a similar vein, the positive outlook of the balanced growth model was
challenged: during the late 1970s and 1980s the contrasting asymmetrical
growth approach, rooted in dependency and world system theory, gained
ground (Abadan-Unat, 1975; Lewis 1986). This approach is far more pessimistic as to the consequences of migration for areas or origin and emphasizes


6

Ton van Naerssen, Ernst Spaan and Annelies Zoomers

the correlation between underdevelopment in migrant sending areas and
development in migrant receiving areas. Unequal power relations within the
systems of neocolonialism cause the unbalanced distribution of benefits and
resources. Far from leading to a new equilibrium, it is argued that the loss of
the young, healthy, and skilled people will lead to a decrease in productivity,
labour and skill shortages, and even a deterioration of social cohesion and
communal institutions (exchange labour). As migrants end up at the lower
end of the labour market (3-D jobs) at destination, they learn few new skills

that can be capitalized upon after return.
Instead of investment, remittances are mainly used for consumptive purposes and lead to price inflation and dependency on external income sources
(Russell, 1993). Another negative effect of migration is a furthering of interhousehold inequality, through the concentration of land and the increasing differences between rural migrant and nonmigrant households. Taylor
(1998) proposed that lucrative migration activities drain migrant sending
areas of labour and capital and crowd out local production of tradable
goods (migrant syndrome theory). Also, because communities and regions
specialize in migration and migration becomes self-perpetuating over time,
this process is progressively disadvantageous.
More recent theories have taken a different stance. The New Economics
of Labour Migration (NELM), challenges both the neoclassical approach
and historical structural models. NELM focuses on the household, rather
than the individual, and theorizes that migration forms part of household
livelihood strategies (Stark, 1980, 1991). By way of (international) migration and the resulting remittance flows households spread risks by diversifying their economic base and self-finance (new) production technologies and
business ventures. Once constraints are overcome, migration is assumed to
have a positive impact on development in the long run (Massey et al., 1998
p. 263). Return migration is considered a logical outcome of a migration
project, once migrants have achieved their objectives in terms of meeting
household needs, savings, insurance, and acquisition of investment capital
and skills (Cassarino, 2004).
The social networks of migrants and the role they play in migration
processes also constitutes a relatively new field of research (Massey et al.,
1998). By stressing the importance of support systems of relatives and
friends, social networks theories explain why potential migrants decide to
move or stay and why they originate from and move to particular places
and communities (Faist, 2000). Moreover, they explain chain migration and
other forms of cumulative migration processes. Migrant entrepreneurship in
destination countries can also often be linked to network systems. Closely
related to these theories, studies on transnationalism (e.g., Basch, Glick
Schiller & Szanton, 1993; Vertovec & Cohen, 1999) have made clear that
international migration entails the development and maintenance of multifarious economic and noneconomic relationships between home and host

countries. As diasporas and transnational communities tend to reproduce