Remittance Flows from Healthcare Workers in Toronto, Canada

Previous research indicates that Canadian healthcare workers, particularly long-term care (LTC) workers, are frequently composed of immigrant and racialized/visible minorities (VM) who are often precariously employed, underpaid, and face significant work-related stress, violence, injuries, illness, and health inequities. Few studies, however, have analyzed the contributions and impact of their labor in international contexts and on global communities. For instance, it is estimated that over CAD 5 billion-worth of remittances originate from Canada, yet no studies to date have examined the contributions of these remittances from Canadian workers, especially from urbanized regions consisting of VM and immigrants who live and/or work in diverse and multicultural places like Toronto. The present study is the first to investigate health and LTC workers’ roles and behaviors as related to remittances. The rationale for this study is to fill important knowledge gaps. Accordingly, this study asked: Do health/LTC workers in the site of study send remittances? If so, which workers send remittances, and who are the recipients of these remittances? What is the range of monetary value of annual remittances that each worker is able to send? What is the purpose of these remittances? What motivates the decision to send remittances? This mixed-methods study used a single-case design and relied on interviews and a survey. The results indicate that many LTC workers provided significant financial support to transnational families, up to CAD 15,000 annually, for a variety of reasons, including support for education and healthcare costs, or as gifts during cultural festivals. However, the inability to send remittances was also a source of distress for those who wanted to assist their families but were unable to do so. These findings raise important questions that could be directed for future research. For example, are there circumstances under which financial remittances are funded through loans or debt? What are the implications for the sustainability and impact of remittances, given the current COVID-19 pandemic and its economic effect of dampening incomes and wages, worsening migrants’ health, wellbeing, and quality of life, as well as adversely affecting recipient economies and the quality of life of global communities?

The financialization of remittances and the individualization of development: A new power geometry of global development

The article argues that the increasing financialization of remittances produces an enormous shift in the political economy of development and contributes to a new power geometry of development. Exploring this power geometry, the article focuses on three main issues: First, migrants intend to support their friends and families on an individual level as remittance senders, and together with the corresponding recipients they form a translocal moral economy. On a macro level, the value of these transactions is high when currency hierarchies remain strong. Financialization of remittances amplifies this micro–macro divergence inherent to remittance flows. Deepening the financial “development” impact of remittances then goes hand in hand with cementing global inequality. Second, economic and political elites in remittance-receiving societies who are able to organize direct and indirect access to remittances with the help of financial instruments and through financialization are able to emancipate from national political control. This indirectly contributes to fostering elite rule in remittance-receiving societies. Third and finally, development is no longer a “national” objective but has become the individual risk of migrants and their relatives and friends. Financialization of remittances therefore consolidates an individualized notion of development. This paper aims to go beyond the narrow economistic and problem-solving approach on which many studies on remittances and financial inclusion draw. It illustrates how financialization of remittances (re)shapes power relations both within the Global South and between the Global South and the Global North.

A difficult balancing act: the Samoan experience with money laundering regulation

Purpose This paper aims to examines the trade-offs that Small Island Developing States (SIDS) must make in navigating an inappropriate elite-driven global anti-money laundering anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (AML-CFT) order. This paper examines the case of Samoa, an under-researched Pacific Island nation. It is hoped that this paper will have a wider resonance for policymakers from other developing nations facing similar challenges. Design/methodology/approach It draws on the latest Samoan domestic source material and Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering Mutual Evaluation Reports to highlight the difficult balancing act that SIDS face in complying with complex global norms within their limited regulatory capacity and competing development priorities of financial inclusion and affordable remittance flows. Findings Samoa and other SIDS in balancing the existential risks of “blacklisting” with the significant regulatory opportunity costs of compliance undertake an expensive form of AML-CFT window-dressing. Policymakers need to be more sensitive to the needs and regulatory opportunity costs of small jurisdictions, particularly when questions about the effectiveness of the AML-CFT remain open. Research limitations/implications The author notes Samoa’s offshore center’s role in raising its risk profile. However, owing to this paper's limited scope offshore center (OFCs) will not be explored in depth. Further research is needed in this area. Originality/value There is a dearth of contemporary academic research into AML-CFT regulation in the South Pacific and Samoa specifically. This paper presents through its Samoan case study insights into the cost-benefit calculations that small jurisdictions must make in seeking to comply with elite global AML-CFT norms vis-à-vis competing policy goals such as financial inclusion and ready access to remittance flows.

The COVID-19 Pandemic, Remittances and Financial Inclusion in the Philippines

Recent literature has revealed that financial inclusion enhances economic opportunities and security in developing countries. Moreover, a greater inflow of remittances can promote inclusiveness. In this paper, we explore the potential impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak on financial inclusion by focusing on its detrimental effect on remittance flows to developing countries. Using a household-level dataset collected in rural regions of the Philippines prior to the outbreak, we confirm that remittances are associated with financial inclusion, particularly for women. We discuss the potential impacts of the pandemic on financial inclusion through the change in the flow of remittances. We show that a substantial decline in remittances caused by the COVID-19 crisis may have an adverse effect on financial inclusion in the Philippines.

Non-Conventional Migration: An Evolving Pattern in South Asia

The circumstances prevailing in South Asia (SA) have led to a plateauing migration stream that has resulted in several categories of migrants. The underlying factors driving migration have been identical in all the countries of SA. In recent years, however, poverty, conflicts, political and religious persecution, natural disasters and climate change have emerged as the most prominent drivers. External migration flow from SA has more than doubled between 2000 and 2015. This is a dynamic region, with millions (over 38m in 2017) of people crossing borders, both intra-regionally and extra-regionally. In recent years, wealthy citizens from SA have begun to move out of their countries with the intention of settling down elsewhere. This tendency has raised concerns among the policy makers because they create the grounds for reverse remittance flows. This research is meant to identify and contribute to the discourse of a new category of migrants (non-conventional migration) who are different from those in the conventional migration stream that included economic and forced migration. This research has crucial policy implications for both origin and destination countries.

Remittances and Development in Nepal: A Disaggregated Analysis

Remittance flows into low/middle-income counties are on a continuous rise and this trend is seen in Nepal as well. There is a constant increase in the number of the Nepalese workers migrating for foreign employment and that has been instrumental to boost the remittance inflow into the country. Remittance is contributing significantly to Gross Domestic Product and is emerging as a backbone of the country’s economy. However, the ways remittances contribute to social development necessitates that many facets of development be explored because they affect the country’s development in multiple ways. This study attempts to analyse the possibility that remittance positively contributes to social development, considering health and educational development as its proxies. Based on the latest available disaggregated educational enrolment and nutrition data of 2009 A.D. by districts, this study analyses the impact of the remittances on school enrolment and improvement in health status of families who remain at home. The results show a significant relationship between remittance and school enrolment but it also shows an insignificant relationship between remittance and health. The findings may be of interest to the countries and the policy makers with remittance being the dominant source of foreign currency. As the results of this study have indicated that remittances may serve as a contributing factor to the educational enrolment for social development.

Financial liberalization, remittances and economic growth in Nigeria (1990–2018)

PurposeInternational remittances are an important segment of external financial flows in Nigeria, currently superseding official development aid (ODA) in terms of volume, and foreign direct investment (FDI) in terms of stability. This study is motivated by the recent increase in remittance flows in Nigeria as the highest recipient in West Africa, and the fact that the growth impact of remittances is weak within the country. The financial liberalization index developed by Chinn and Ito (2006) is employed in this study to examine the role of financial liberalization in the remittances-growth nexus in Nigeria over the period 1990–2018.Design/methodology/approachTo address the possibility of endogeneity among the variables in the model, the study employs the generalized method of moments (GMM) as a technique of analysis.FindingsRemittances and financial liberalization are found to have negative significant impacts on economic growth. However, the effect of the interaction term of financial liberalization and remittances on economic growth is positive and significant. This suggests that the two variables act as complements in the enhancement of economic growth in Nigeria. The study thus concludes that financial liberalization is a strong transmission channel through which remittance inflows positively affect economic growth in Nigeria. The study also advocates for a well-developed financial sector in order to attract more growth-enhancing remittances into the country.Research limitations/implicationsThe implication of the research findings is that an unrestrained financial sector is necessary to encourage and optimize the benefits of remittance flows on economic growth in Nigeria.Originality/valuePrevious studies have considered the effects of financial development on the remittances-growth nexus in Nigeria. However, this study examines the role of financial liberalization in the nexus between remittances and economic growth in Nigeria by using the Chinn and Ito (2008) index of financial openness.

Tourism, Trade and Self-employment growth in West Africa: Evidence from Ghana, Nigeria and Cote d'Ivoire

This study attempts to evaluate the relationship between tourism and trade and self-employment growth in Ghana, Nigeria and Cote d'Ivoire using a time series data spanning the period 1991-2019. In this study, applied GMM approach is employed. Results show that export and import trade, development assistance and personal remittance flows significantly spur self-employment during the study period while indicators of tourism activities represented by the number of tourist arrivals retard growth of self-employment but increases export trade in these countries. On this basis, the business atmosphere and infrastructural facilities should be improved to sufficiently boost the relationship between trade and tourism and hence spur self-employment growth in these countries.

Remittances and Economic Growth in MENA Countries: The Role of Financial Development

This paper investigates the conditional effects of remittances on economic growth in 7 MENA countries, namely, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey from 2000 to 2018. Using the system generalized method of moments (GMM) in a panel data analysis, we found strong evidence of a positive relationship between remittances and economic growth. We also found that financial development acted as a complement in the remittances-growth relationship. A clearer understanding of the channels through which remittance flows will enhance economic growth in the MENA region may assist policymakers to formulate appropriate policies. In particular, a policy environment that promotes financial system development would serve to attract more remittances.

Challenging the financialization of remittances agenda through Indigenous women’s practices in Oaxaca

Remittances, money sent by migrants to their communities of origin, are increasingly being linked to global financial inclusion in what is being called the “financialization of remittances.” This is the most recent attempt to divert remittances from “non-productive” money to savings and investments that can be mobilized for economic development. The literature that accompanies this strategy focuses on the responsibility of individuals to use remittances productively and invest wisely, and there is often an implied – and gendered - social component: if women link remittances to financial services, they will become empowered and lift themselves out of poverty. Based on ethnographic research in an Indigenous village in Oaxaca, Mexico, this paper offers empirics on the effects of remittance flows in women's everyday lives. Feminist scholars have long critiqued the universalism and abstractness of global development agendas, particularly those that preclude gender, and emanate from the Global North. Joining these critical voices and mobilizing postcolonial and feminist scholarship, this paper challenges the individualist logics and dichotomies underpinning the financialization of remittances agenda: that remittance spending is either productive or not and that women are empowered or not through linking remittances to finance.