Health and Social Policy

The study of the relationship between migration and development has found a new audience in the last decade. Much of the interest on this topic stems from a rapid growth in economic remittance flows, which have caught the attention of political, multilateral, and academic actors. An Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) report estimated that the Latin American region received $20 billion in remittances in the year 2000 alone.¹ While the IDB and other development institutions explore ways to effectively manage these financial flows, academic scholars of migration are increasingly focused on understanding the real impact of such remittances on development. An equally important dimension of these discussions is the social and cultural implication of remittances.² Often overlooked by financial institutions, the ideas, practices, identities, and social capital that migrants remit home also contribute to the intricate relationship between migrants and their home communities.³