Migrant Remittances in South Asia Social, Economic and Political Implications

by Rahman, Md Mizanur; Yong, Tan Tai; Ullah, AKM Ahsan

• ISBN13: 9781137350794
• ISBN10: 1137350792
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2014-11-25
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Remittance is the most beneficial private transaction in the global economy. The South Asian region accounts for about one fourth of the global remittance flows destined for developing countries, contributing to over ten percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) of South Asia. This significant amount of remittance has enormous potential for development in the region. The volume, essentially a South Asian viewpoint, provides theoretical treatments of remittance and how its development potential is translated into reality. The authors meticulously delve into the diverse mechanisms through which migrant communities remit, investigating how recipients engage in the development process in South Asia.

Author Biography

Md Mizanur Rahman is Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS), National University of Singapore, Singapore. His recent co-edited books include Diaspora Engagement and Development in South Asia and Asian Migration Policy: South, East and Southeast Asia. His research articles have appeared in international journals such as International Migration, Population, Space and Place, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Journal of International Migration and Integration, Asia and Pacific Migration Journal, Asian Population Studies and Asian Ethnicity.

Tan Tai Yong is Professor of History and Director of the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS), National University of Singapore, Singapore. He has written extensively on South Asian history as well as on Southeast Asia and Singapore. His recent books include Partition and Post-Colonial South Asia: A Reader (co-edited with Gyanesh Kudaisya, 2007), The Garrison State: Military, Government and Society in Colonial Punjab, 1849-1947 (2005), The Aftermath of Partition in South Asia (with Gyanesh Kudaisya, 2002).

AKM Ahsan Ullah is Associate Director at the Centre for Migration and Refugee Studies and Assistant Professor of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the American University in Cairo, Egypt. With over twenty years of experience in teaching and research, he has published on migration, refugee and development studies. He taught and conducted research at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand, the City University of Hong Kong, the Centre for Development Research (ZEF), Germany, Saint Mary's University and McMaster University, and the University of Ottawa, Canada.

Table of Contents

Migrant Remittances in South Asia: An Introduction; Md Mizanur Rahman, Tan Tai Yong and AKM Ahsan Ullah

PART I: REMITTANCE AND CONCEPTUAL ISSUES
1.Understanding Remittances: Theoretical and Methodological Issues; Md Mizanur Rahman and Lian Kwen Fee
2.Gender and Remittances: Remodelling Remittance Exposure; AKM Ahsan Ullah

PART II: REMITTANCE TRANSFER SYSTEMS
3.Formal Remittances: Costs and efficiencies of remittance transfers to South Asia; Bhupal Singh
4.Social Organization of Hundi: Informal Remittance Transfers to South Asia; Md Mizanur Rahman and Brenda S.A. Yeoh

PART III: IMPLICATIONS OF REMITTANCES IN SOUTH ASIA
5.The social dynamics of remittance-receiving in Pakistan: Agency and opportunity among non-migrants in a transnational social field; Marta Bivand Erdal
6.Remittances and SME Development: Reflections from South Asia; Rita Afsar
7.Gendering Remittances: Contested Masculinities among Bangladeshi Muslim Male Immigrants in New York City; Natacha Stevanovic-Fenn
8.Globalization of Remittances in India: Toward a Sociological Perspective; Vani S Kulkarni
9.When Money Follows the Corpse: Remittances of Deceased Migrants in South Asia; AKM Ahsan Ullah and Mallik Akram Hossain
10.Fertility Responses to Migrant Remittances in Pakistan; Mazhar Mughal an Amar Anwar
11.Migrants' Private Giving and Development in Central Gujarat, India; Puja Guha
12.Uses and Impacts of Remittances in Nepal; Bhubanesh Pant