SENDING MONEY HOME.

SENDING MONEY HOME. Jason DeParle has an article in the New York Times for March 17 about an economist who has measured the amount and the importance of remittances that are sent home to poorer countries by migrant workers. Dilip Ratha established that remittances for the Philippines were fifty times greater than had been estimated. For some small countries, remittances are more than twenty per cent of national income. Remittances are three times larger than the total for world foreign aid. They also have advantages over foreign aid–they can’t be skimmed and their use is usually well-monitored by the grantor. Ratha grew up speaking Sambalpuri, a language which “lacks a written script.” A teacher says that students in his village are “astonished that this young man from Sindhekela flies around in planes.” Sindhekela now has three cellphone towers; all the children now have shoes. Ratha attributes this to internal migration–remittances from migrants to India’s cities.

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3 Responses to SENDING MONEY HOME.

  1. Annalisa says:

    TWENTY per cent of the national income! That is truly astounding. The material differences (the children’s shoes, new cell phone towers) are astounding as well, but… wow. I wonder how the leaders of such countries regard these numbers. Is it worrisome to them that so much of their income pours in from their citizens who have migrated elsewhere to work? Or perhaps they are just grateful for the boost to their economy.

  2. Dick Weisfelder says:

    Such remittances are all that keep many people alive in Somalia, Sudan, Lesotho, Liberia, DRC, Haiti, Honduras and a host of additional African and other countries. I’d venture a guess that the percentage is MUCH higher than 20% for some of them.

  3. Pingback: CELLPHONE MINUTES AS MONEY. | Pater Familias

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