Diasporas and Development

Contents: Preface. 1. Overview: Diasporas and development/Barbara J. Merz, Lincoln C. Chen, Peter F. Geithner and Colleen Gross Ebinger. 2. Focusing on the state: Government responses to Diaspora giving and implications for equity/Mark Sidel. 3. What can remittances and other migrant flows do for equitable development?David de Ferranti and Anthony J. Ody. 4. The Janus face of Diasporas/Devesh Kapur. 5. Diaspora philanthropy to Asia/Adil Najam. 6. African Diasporas/Mojubaolu Olufunke Okome. 7. Diaspora engagement in the Caribbean/Barbara J. Merz. 8. Central American Diasporas and hometown associations/Manuel Orozsco. Index.

"Diasporas and Development aims to deepen the understanding of the promise and pitfalls of Diaspora engagement and how it may help to bridge the distances between societies in an unequal world. Just as trade, finance, information and technologies are moving rapidly across borders, so too have labour markets and transnational migrant communities. Migrants are sending large quantities of money back to their countries of origin in the form of philanthropy, remittances and commercial investments. They are also sharing knowledge and skills learned or honed abroad.

Is greater global equity and inevitable consequences of Diaspora engagement in their countries of origin, or can it actually aggravate inequity?

Diasporas and Development examines the positive--and sometimes negative--impacts of Diaspora engagement through examination of policies and philanthropic modalities as well as specific regional; examples of Diaspora activity."