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Transnational Migration, Remittances and Development: Comparing the Emigration Hotspots of Colombia and Brazil

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Transnational Migration, Remittances and Development: Comparing the Emigration Hotspots of Colombia and Brazil Transnational Migration, Remittances and Development: Comparing the Emigration Hotspots of Colombia and Brazil Introduction Given that workers’ remittances have become one of the main sources of finance for developing countries, where, in 2011, they represented about half of the income received in the form of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and three times the amount received as Official Development Assistance (ODA) (Ratha, 2013; World Bank, 2016); migrants have emerged as one of the key agents in solving the ‘development problem’ of the south (Faist, 2007). This has translated into a coordinated effort on the part of international financial institutions and governments in the north and south to establish a discourse that links migration, remittances and development, the so-called migration–development nexus. Latin America is a vibrant region of origin, destination and transit for international migration. The last census round suggests that the region’s migration pattern is characterised by some long-term continuities, as well as changes in the volume and direction of flows, and in the composition and characteristics of migrants. In 2016, 18% of all international migrants originated in the region – 33 million people –, which received around 16% of global remittances flows – US$ 73.1 billion (IFAD, 2017). Thus, migrants have emerged as a current and potential social, economic and political force and key agents to be incorporated into sending countries’ national development plans. Having recognised migrants as a current and potential economic and political force, many Latin American governments have embraced the migration–development agenda and have taken steps to establish and maintain links with their citizens abroad. Although the debate on international migration and remittances in Latin America has advanced considerably in recent years, much remains to be understood in relation to migrants’ changing socio-demographic characteristics, their role in the transnational maintenance of their households of origin and their potential broader impact on socioeconomic development at the micro, meso and macro levels in the region (CEPAL, 2007). This paper aims to fill this lacuna through a comparative analysis of the dynamics of migration in the Coffee Region of Colombia and Governador Valadares, Brazil, the main hotspots of international emigration in these countries. The analysis centres around comparing and contrasting migration flows, patterns and the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of migrant and non-migrant households in these key locations. It also reflects on the socioeconomic and political implications of these dynamics at the micro, meso and macro levels in these regions. As will be shown, comparing these two migration regions is important because there are parallels in the historical evolution of socioeconomic processes and migration patterns in Colombia and Brazil. Methodologically, the paper employs a quantitative approach that includes analysis of data from the 2005 Colombian Census and the 2010 Brazilian Census, both of which added specific questions about international emigration for the first time, and which have been hardly explored in the literature. It also analyses other secondary data in order to qualify the complexity of migration processes at the regional and national levels1. 1 This paper is part of a bigger research project that aims to analyse the key role that migrants may play in the maintenance and transnational reproduction, development and livelihoods of their families and the potential broader implications of the migration-development nexus on the socio-spatial and economic spectrum, in the context of Latin America’s rapid demographic changes. 1 The paper is divided as follows: the first section unpacks some of the basic concepts employed and debates around the central themes of the paper, namely, transnational migration, development and livelihoods and the interrelations between them. The second section provides a multi-scalar historical characterisation of the socioeconomic and political contexts of origin in Colombia and Brazil, with the aim to make explicit the social construction of the conditions of emigration and their relationship with broader processes of international labour mobility. The third section looks at the dynamics of migration stocks, patterns and the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of migrant and non-migrant households in the Coffee Region of Colombia and Governador Valadares, Brazil. The paper concludes with a reflection on the similarities and differences of migration processes and patterns according to households’ socioeconomic and demographic characteristics and the socioeconomic and political implications of these dynamics at the micro, meso and macro levels in these regions. Theoretical discussion Given that workers’ remittances have become one of the main sources of finance for developing countries in recent years, migrants have emerged as one of the key agents in solving the ‘development problem’ of the south (Faist, 2007). This has translated into a coordinated effort on the part of international financial institutions and governments in the north and south to promote the migration–development nexus in the form of a range of policies and programmes that seek to spur economic development in migrant-sending countries based on the ‘proper’ use of remittances. Although the World Bank has been in charge of coordinating these efforts, they are being pushed at a global scale by a range of international organisations and think tanks and have been given prominence by the United Nations’ High Level Dialogue on Migration and Development and the agency’s establishment of a Global Migration Group in 2006 (Gamlen, 2014). Although most studies have concluded that migration, remittances and investment by migrants do not produce development but instead, good institutional conditions and development are a precondition for migrants to invest (Faist, 2007; Levitt & Lamba-Nieves, 2011), the migration–development nexus continues to gain ground as a “pressing need” (Sørensen et al., 2002), given the importance of migration and remittances for the financial health and social and economic stability of developing countries (Ratha, 2013; World Bank, 2016). The linking of migration and development is not a new phenomenon and the debate about the nexus “has swung back and forth like a pendulum, from optimism in the 1950s and 1960s, to pessimism, scepticism and relative neglect since the early 1970s, and towards more optimistic views since 2000” (de Haas, 2012, p. 11). However, this renewed enthusiasm is animated by political and economic interests and exaggerates the benefits and multiplier effects that remittances can have on origin countries (de Haas, 2012; Gamlen, 2014). Furthermore, the reborn optimism about the migration-development nexus implicitly fails to recognise that migration is not an exogenous variable but part and parcel of broader development and/or social transformation processes (Castles et al., 2014); tends to ignore the structural constraints that inhibit development and allocate an unlimited capacity to Specifically, it seeks to qualify the multiple ways in which migration and remittances affect the well-being, socioeconomic development and livelihoods of migrant households of origin (direct effect), as well as their potential impact on the development of the Coffee Region of Colombia and Governador Valadares, Brazil (indirect effect). This will be achieved by combining the quantitative analysis with in-depth semi-structured interviews with migrant families in these migration hotspots. 2 individuals to overcome them (Glick Schiller & Faist, 2010). As Portes (2011) has rightly argued, given that development is not an spontaneous but a guided process, although private actors may play an important role in development, “the quality and developmental orientation of state institutions have thus come to be recognised as a necessary, if not sufficient condition for development” (p. 501). In Latin America and the Caribbean, where international migrants account for about 5.2% of the total population (World Bank, 2011) and remittances flows represent around 70% of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows and are five times larger than the flows of official development assistance (ODA) (World Bank, 2006, 2016), governments are taking bold steps to establish and maintain links with their citizens abroad. These range from symbolic policies and bureaucratic reforms to highlight migrants’ importance to policymakers and the extension of political rights to migrants to programmes that seek to channel remittances to key national sectors, and remittances-matching funds for public investment schemes (Levitt & de la Dehesa, 2003). At the same time, financial institutions have been driven into a fierce competition to capture a greater portion of remittances flows. One of the most important developments in this regard is the sector’s alliance with governments for the financialisation of migrant activities, especially by tailoring financial products to the needs of the remittance market, in an attempt to institutionalise migrant households’ transnational economic practices. Programmes linking remittances to housing acquisition and financing have been one of the main mechanisms employed by governments in their efforts to render migrants as transnational development agents. In fact, the Inter-American Development Bank financed five remittances-for-housing projects throughout
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