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MORE ON THE HIDDEN REMITTANCE ECONOMY
JONATHAN ROWE, ODE MAGAZINE - Developing countries-India,, Mexico and
the Philippines especially-are coping with the global economy and their
own burgeoning populations in part by exporting workers. According to a
World Bank report by Ernesto Pernia, professor of economics at the
University of the Philippines, about one in nine Filipinos now works
abroad; these migrants send home over $1 billion a month, a figure
that's growing rapidly. The money comes largely from the U.S., but a lot
also comes from Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Israel, Brunei and other
outposts of the island-nation's laboring diaspora.
Those remittances, as they are called, constitute more than 10 percent
of the formal economy - that is, the part transacted through money and
counted in the gross domestic product. All told, migrant workers from
developing countries send home well northward of $150 billion each year,
which is at least 50 percent more than all the development aid that
comes from the First World. What's more, these figures from the World
Bank greatly understate the true magnitude. The national statistics are
spotty and inconsistent. They don't count the money that expatriates
take home with them on visits - Filipina nurses sometimes carry
thousands of dollars - or the hulking balik bayan (goingg home) boxes
that Filipinos send often.
This flow is not really new. What is now the Bank of America - one of
the largest banks in the U.S. - began in San Francisco as the Bank oof
Italy, in part to help Italian immigrants send money home. But the
amounts involved today are unprecedented, and most economists applaud.
The labor migrations and resulting transfers of money are the invisible
hand at work, they say. There are no bureaucrats, just pure market
forces. And the money is counter-cyclical, meaning it increases when
times get harder. As a development strategy, in terms of the prevailing
model, this is about as good as it gets.
Except that it's not. The remittances do pay for food and clothes,
school tuition and medical treatment for family members back home. Often
these workers can buy homes and land. Kids do get trips to the mall. But
the very poor get little benefit, since it usually takes money and
education to find work abroad.
Human export is a bustling trade, and a boon to the nation's GDP. But
for the people involved it is not a walk in the park. Housekeepers in
the Middle East are often abused. In Lebanon, many were left behind in
sectarian turmoil by wealthy employers who themselves fled. . .
The remittance money comes with an elastic cord that pulls much of it
right back, and the mega-malls are shrines to this phenomenon. According
to newspaper reports, most of the money spent there comes from relatives
overseas. Traditional food vendors with pansit and inasal stands are
tucked away on upper floors if they exist at all. Burger King, Pizza Hut
and JolliBees, a local chain, have the prime locations down below. These
are outposts of the global economy more than they are outgrowths of the
Philippines itself.
This is a losing game; and it won't change until the country's leaders
find a way to channel more remittance money into genuine grassroots
development. There are signs that this could happen. . . A movement is
afoot to reroute the financial wiring of overseas labor so that more
remittance money gets invested locally and a little less gets spent at
the mall.
http://www.odemagazine.com/doc/45/those_left_behind
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
MORE ON THE HIDDEN REMITTANCE ECONOMY
JONATHAN ROWE, ODE MAGAZINE - Developing countries-India,, Mexico and
the Philippines especially-are coping with the global economy and their
own burgeoning populations in part by exporting workers. According to a
World Bank report by Ernesto Pernia, professor of economics at the
University of the Philippines, about one in nine Filipinos now works
abroad; these migrants send home over $1 billion a month, a figure
that's growing rapidly. The money comes largely from the U.S., but a lot
also comes from Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Israel, Brunei and other
outposts of the island-nation's laboring diaspora.
Those remittances, as they are called, constitute more than 10 percent
of the formal economy - that is, the part transacted through money and
counted in the gross domestic product. All told, migrant workers from
developing countries send home well northward of $150 billion each year,
which is at least 50 percent more than all the development aid that
comes from the First World. What's more, these figures from the World
Bank greatly understate the true magnitude. The national statistics are
spotty and inconsistent. They don't count the money that expatriates
take home with them on visits - Filipina nurses sometimes carry
thousands of dollars - or the hulking balik bayan (goingg home) boxes
that Filipinos send often.
This flow is not really new. What is now the Bank of America - one of
the largest banks in the U.S. - began in San Francisco as the Bank oof
Italy, in part to help Italian immigrants send money home. But the
amounts involved today are unprecedented, and most economists applaud.
The labor migrations and resulting transfers of money are the invisible
hand at work, they say. There are no bureaucrats, just pure market
forces. And the money is counter-cyclical, meaning it increases when
times get harder. As a development strategy, in terms of the prevailing
model, this is about as good as it gets.
Except that it's not. The remittances do pay for food and clothes,
school tuition and medical treatment for family members back home. Often
these workers can buy homes and land. Kids do get trips to the mall. But
the very poor get little benefit, since it usually takes money and
education to find work abroad.
Human export is a bustling trade, and a boon to the nation's GDP. But
for the people involved it is not a walk in the park. Housekeepers in
the Middle East are often abused. In Lebanon, many were left behind in
sectarian turmoil by wealthy employers who themselves fled. . .
The remittance money comes with an elastic cord that pulls much of it
right back, and the mega-malls are shrines to this phenomenon. According
to newspaper reports, most of the money spent there comes from relatives
overseas. Traditional food vendors with pansit and inasal stands are
tucked away on upper floors if they exist at all. Burger King, Pizza Hut
and JolliBees, a local chain, have the prime locations down below. These
are outposts of the global economy more than they are outgrowths of the
Philippines itself.
This is a losing game; and it won't change until the country's leaders
find a way to channel more remittance money into genuine grassroots
development. There are signs that this could happen. . . A movement is
afoot to reroute the financial wiring of overseas labor so that more
remittance money gets invested locally and a little less gets spent at
the mall.
http://www.odemagazine.com/doc/45/those_left_behind
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