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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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June 2009

Announcing the International Conference on Diaspora for Development, July 13-14, 2009

Submitted by Sonia Plaza on Mon, 06/29/2009 - 11:43

The Migration and Remittances team of the Development Economics and Prospects Group (DEPG) of the World Bank is organizing an International Conference on Diaspora and Development on July 13-14, 2009 in Washington D.C. You are invited to participate in this conference and join economists, policy makers and other colleagues in the discussions. 

The diaspora of developing countries can be a potent force for development for their countries of origin, through remittances, but more importantly, also through promotion of trade, investments, knowledge and technology transfers. The conference aims to consolidate research and evidence on these issues with a view to formulating policies in both sending and receiving countries.

New paths to funding: Performance-indexed bonds

Submitted by Dilip Ratha on Wed, 06/17/2009 - 16:42

As estimates of the financing gap in developing countries range from $350 to $635 billion, there are increasing efforts to find new sources and innovative ways to mobilize external financing.  In the latest issue of Finance & Development, Suhas Ketkar and I contributed an article, “New Paths to Funding," which discusses diaspora bonds, performance-indexed bonds and securitization of future remittances and export earnings as possible means for restoring, or starting, access of poor country borrowers to international capital markets.
 
New sources of financing include potential savings from reducing remittance fees. The G8 Global Remittances Working Group has set a 5X5 target - reduce remittance fees by 5 percentage points within 5 years - which could raise more than $15 billion additional, annual resource flows to developing countries. This objective got welcome support from the G8 Development Ministers Meeting in Italy last week. The Leading Group - a group of 55 countries that have come together to explore innovative financing for development - also discussed remittances and diaspora bonds in a meeting two weeks ago in Paris. 

EU just approved the Blue Card: Are there advantages for developing countries?

Submitted by Sonia Plaza on Wed, 06/10/2009 - 16:55

On May 25th, 2009, the European Council adopted the EU Blue Card directive which was initially agreed upon by the European Union’s interior Ministers under the European Pact on Immigration and Asylum in September 2008.

According to the directive, the Blue Card will attract high skilled workers from a third-country into the EU- member states’ labor market and will have a period of validity between one and four years depending on the contract.  The directive rules state that EU Blue Card holders will be treated equally with nationals of the member state issuing the Blue Card in certain areas such as working conditions, education, and a number of provisions in national law regarding social security and pensions. The card will also allow the visa holder to bring in family members with him or her in the EU country where the job is located.

International migration by men affects labor market participation by women at home

Submitted by Gero Carletto on Mon, 06/08/2009 - 12:13

While the beneficial impacts of migration and remittances on social welfare have been well documented, we know very little about the effects of migration--mostly by men-- on the local labor market behavior of women. To help address this gap, Mariapia Mendola (of the University of Milan) and I explored the gender aspects of migration and economic development in Albania over the past fifteen years. We decided to examine Albania during this period in greater detail because economic hardship during transition fostered massive migrant outflows, mostly to neighboring Greece and Italy. Also, male migration is an ordinary and widespread phenomenon in Albania.

Using unusually detailed international migration histories from the 2005 Albania Living Standards Measurement Survey, we found that Albanian households with family members (mostly sons and daughters) living abroad are less likely to have women in paid employment. However, male spouses with past migration experience exert a positive influence on female self-employment. The same effect is not seen for men when women migrate. Our findings suggest that over time, male-dominated, shorter-term migration may increase the income-earning opportunities for women at home.

Our working paper based on this research was published last month in the World Bank's Policy Research Working Paper series.