Glocal Dynamism & Immigration

We're thinking glocally here at Pajama Nation, but we also have to recognize the drift and exchange of human beings across the globe that has been growing with transporation and other technologies. Right now the drift is still towards people emigrating from the "third world" to the advanced nations like the US and Europe. Most people see this as a one way street, since the drift of bodies is basically in one direction. But a recent New York Times article -- "A Good Provider is One Who Leaves" -- shows a healthy dynamic between those who leave and those who stay. Immigrants are getting capital and shifting it back to their earlier locales, and we begin to see growth and development "back home: as the result. of that "redistribution" of capital.

Quoting the New York Times:
"About 200 million migrants from different countries are scattered across the globe, supporting a population back home that is as big if not bigger. Were these half-billion or so people to constitute a state — migration nation — it would rank as the world’s third-largest. While some migrants go abroad with Ph.D.’s, most travel ... with modest skills but fearsome motivation. The risks migrants face are widely known, including the risk of death, but the amounts they secure for their families have just recently come into view. Migrants worldwide sent home an estimated $300 billion last year — nearly three times the world’s foreign-aid budgets combined. These sums — 'remittances' — bring Morocco more money than tourism does. They bring Sri Lanka more money than tea does. ...In 22 countries, remittances exceed a tenth of the G.D.P., including Moldova (32 percent), Haiti (23 percent) and Lebanon (22 percent).

A nice little think piece by Alex Steffan on the WorldChanging website expands further on the possibilities of this glocal exchange of energy between those who forage out for resources and those who build the nest back home.

Quoting Steffan:
"inding better ways to connect migrants with the financial services they and their families and business partners back home need is key as well, many experts say. Particularly promising is the idea of productizing remittances -- sending goods instead of money.

"But a whole host of other innovative financial services might make migrants' checks home both more effective and more frequent, from micro-finance banks to micro-insurance, even meso-financial investment opportunities. Creating such new services will require a pretty rapid case of redistributing the future, helping nations to develop not only the proper laws and proper policies, but even the proper software.

"Now, imagine this: imagine all these enterprising, ambitious people, and all the money they send home (and all the institutions with which they interact to send it) being bent towards even more beneficial ends, becoming better, longer levers for really remaking the nations from which they're traveled into places of prosperity and sustainability. Imagine deciding to make migrant labor truly worldchanging."



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Read Full NY Times Article
Read Full WorldChanging Article