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A blog about migration, remittances, and development

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This blog is hosted by Dilip Ratha, lead economist at the World Bank. Its goal is to leverage migration and remittances for development.  
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May 2009

Finding ways to improve migration data

Submitted by Ani Silwal on Fri, 05/29/2009 - 13:55

A constant struggle facing researchers and policymakers tackling migration issues is a lack of good data. The Center for Global Development recently released “Five Steps Toward Better Migration Data,” an excellent report on concrete steps governments and non-governmental organizations can take in the short run to fill this gap. 

This report is particularly important in the context of a new round of census taking in 2010. The five recommendations are to: 

  1. Ask basic census questions and make the data publicly available; 
  2. Compile and release existing administrative data;
  3. Centralize labor force surveys; 
  4. Provide access to microdata, not just tabulations; and 
  5. Include migration modules on more existing household surveys.

Given the abundance of recommendations in the development industry, a laudable effort is the accompanying report card (PDF) which tracks countries’ progress with respect to the recommendations.

Event Announcement: The Impact of the Economic Crisis on Migration and Remittances, June 1, 2009

Submitted by Neil Ruiz on Thu, 05/28/2009 - 08:58

The Migration and Remittances Team of the Development Economics Prospects Group (DECPG) of the World Bank is organizing a brown bag lunch seminar on "The Impact of the Economic Crisis on Migration and Remittances" on Monday, June 1, 2009 from 12:00pm-1:30pm, at the Main Complex of the World Bank, 1818 H Street NW, Room MC5-100.  Two eminent scholars, Bimal Ghosh (Colombian School of Public Administration)  and Manuel Orozco (Inter-American Dialogue) will present their views on how the economic crisis is effecting migration and  remittances world-wide.  The event will be chaired by Dilip Ratha, Lead Economist, DECPG. 

This event is open to the public.  If you would like to attend the brown bag lunch seminar, please RSVP by emailing Claudia Carter at: ccarter@worldbank.org. 

 

Undocumented Immigration: restrict or liberalize?

Submitted by Neil Ruiz on Fri, 05/15/2009 - 16:52

In a recent seminar at the World Bank, Peter Dixon and Maureen Rimmer presented a paper titled "Illegal Immigration: restrict or liberalize?" showing that tighter border security and internal enforcement actually reduce the welfare for U.S. households; raise the wage rate of the undocumented migrants who remain; and generate dead-weight losses in the form of prosecution and prosecution-mitigating activities. More importantly, they explain that restricting the inflow of undocumented immigrants pushes U.S. workers towards low-paid, low-skilled jobs. 

On the other hand, legalization produces a strong welfare gain for U.S. households since the supply of immigrants (now guest workers) increases and their wage falls.  At the same time, the additional inflow of guest workers has a favorable effect on the occupational mix and average real wage rate of U.S. native workers, allowing native-born US residents to complete their education, enhance their skills, and move up the occupational ladder. 

The paper surmizes that legalization is good for America since it will eliminate smugglers fees and other costs related to illegal entry, and allow immigrants (the former undocumented immigrants) to be even more productive.  If we accept this model, this means that the best action for countries with large undocumented immigrants is to legalize them and to develop a comprehensive temporary worker program.

Mobile money comes to Bangladesh

Submitted by Sanket Mohapatra on Tue, 05/12/2009 - 10:21

Bangladesh seems on track to launch a mobile money transfer (MMT) service which could potentially reduce costs to 1 percent of the transfer amount. The project will be implemented by Grameen Phone (a subsidiary of Grameen Bank which has pioneered mobile access to rural areas in Bangladesh) and is being supported by the World Bank, according to India's Economic Times. 

There are two new innovations compared to other developing countries with successful MMT implementation: (1) This service is targeted primarily for cross-border transfers (estimated at $9 billion annually), unlike other countries such as Kenya and Philippines where MMT has been focused on domestic transfers, and (2) It will use a network of ATM machines, where recipients can withdraw the money instead of having to go to a designated agent.

Entering the cross-border market will require developing settlement systems between Grameen Phone and banks and money transfer operators in the major remittance-sources (including in the Gulf) and extensive cooperation between the respective central banks and banking supervisors. The success of this venture will serve as a useful pilot for other countries that are considering such cross-border transfers.