For several decades, wealthy
states, international development agencies and multinational
corporations have encouraged labour migration from the Global South
to the Global North. As well as providing essential workers to
support the transformation of advanced economies, the remittances
that migrants send home have been touted as the most promising means
of national development for poor and undeveloped countries.
As
Immanuel Ness argues in this sharp corrective to conventional wisdom,
temporary labour migration represents the most recent form of
economic imperialism and global domination. A closer look at the
economic and social evidence demonstrates that remittances deepen
economic exploitation, unravel societal stability and significantly
expand economic inequality between poor and rich societies. The book
exposes the damaging political, economic and social effects of
migration on origin countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and
how border and security mechanisms control and marginalize low-wage
migrant workers, especially women and youth. Ness asserts that
remittances do not bring growth to poor countries but extend national
dependence on the export of migrant workers, leading to warped and
unequal development on the global periphery.
This
expert take will be a valuable resource for students and scholars of
migration and development across the social sciences.