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Migration

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The Economy of South Asia

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Economic History ((PEHS))

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Abstract

According to the United Nations data, sometime in the mid-1980s, the non-oil-exporting developing world began to experience a revolutionary change in their economic structure. From then on, the export of labour services and labour-intensive products created increasing capacity to import technology. South Asia forms an important, if not the central, part of this worldwide story. In this case, the story more or less began with emigration of millions of South Asians to the Persian Gulf. South Asians were no strangers to movements like these. Why do they move? With what effect? Why do destinations change? The chapter will explore these questions.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Some of the other items in the balance of payments – other than trade and remittance – were individually smaller, moved erratically, and varied between countries. These included investment, foreign aid, non-labour services such as shipping and tourism.

  2. 2.

    Myron Weiner, ‘Rejected Peoples and Unwanted Migrants in South Asia,’ Economic and Political Weekly, 28(34), 1993, 1737–1746.

  3. 3.

    Claire Alexander, Joya Chatterji, and Annu Jalais, The Bengal Diaspora. Rethinking Muslim Migration, London and New York: Routledge, 2016.

  4. 4.

    For the earlier percentages see Judith M. Brown, Global South Asians. Introducing the Modern Diaspora, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006, 40.

  5. 5.

    http://asiancenturyinstitute.com/migration/194-asian-migration-to-the-gulf (accessed 15 October 2016).

  6. 6.

    Jonathan Addleton, ‘The Impact of International Migration on Economic Development in Pakistan,’ Asian Survey, 24(5), 1984, 574–596.

  7. 7.

    Piyasiri Wickramasekara, ‘South Asian Gulf Migration to the Gulf: A Safety Valve or a Development Strategy?’ Migration and Development, 5(1), 2016, 99–129.

  8. 8.

    Sanjay Barbora, Susan Thieme, Karin Astrid Siegmann, Vineetha Menon and Ganesh Gurung, ‘Migration Matters in South Asia: Commonalities and Critiques, Economic and Political Weekly, 43(24), 2008, 57–65.

  9. 9.

    It is a historical observed pattern, and shows up indirectly in the British Indian census statistics between 1881 and 1931. See Tirthankar Roy, Rethinking Economic Change in India: Labour and Livelihood, London: Routledge, 2005, on age at marriage and feminization of agricultural workers.

  10. 10.

    Udo Kock and Yan Sun, ‘Remittances in Pakistan: Why They Have Gone Up and Why They Are Not Coming Down,’ Pakistan Development Review, 50(3), 2011, 189–208.

  11. 11.

    Y Hamada, ‘National Governance in International Labour Migration,’ Migration and Development, 1(1), 2012, 50–71.

  12. 12.

    Alexander, Chatterji, and Jalais, The Bengal Diaspora, 75.

  13. 13.

    Chinmay Tumbe, ‘Migration Persistence across Twentieth Century India,’ Migration and Development, 1(1), 2012, 87–112.

  14. 14.

    Alexander, Chatterji, and Jalais, The Bengal Diaspora, 3

  15. 15.

    Manohar P. Sharma, ‘International Contract-Based Migration, Remittances, and Household Well-Being in the Western Province of Sri Lanka,’ International Migration, 51(S1), 2013, e216-e248.

  16. 16.

    These effects were tested and found to have the expected sign in Mohammed Nishat and Nighat Bilgrami, ‘The Impact of Migrant Worker’s Remittances on Pakistan Economy, Pakistan Economic and Social Review, 29(1), 1991 21–41.

  17. 17.

    I borrow the phrase from Wahiduddin Mahmud and S.R. Osmani, ‘Impact of Emigrant Workers’ Remittances on the Bangladesh Economy,’ Bangladesh Development Studies, 8(3), 1980, 1–28.

  18. 18.

    Mausumi Mahapatro, ‘Migration, Development and Welfare: Findings from a Household Survey in Two Selected Villages in Bangladesh,’ Migration and Development, 2015, 1–17.

  19. 19.

    David N. Gellner, ‘Caste, Ethnicity and Inequality in Nepal,’ Economic and Political Weekly, 42(20), 2007, 1823–1828.

  20. 20.

    Bijaya Shrestha, ‘Contribution of Foreign Employment and Remittances to Nepalese Economy,’ Economic Review: Occasional Paper (Nepal Rastra Bank), 20, 2008, 1–15.

  21. 21.

    Jhalak Sharma Sapkota, ‘Protecting the Wellbeing of Nepalese Migrant Workers: The Nature and Extent of Interventions by the Government of Nepal,’ Asia Pacific Journal of Public Administration, 37(2), 2015, 115–127.

  22. 22.

    Srikant Dutt, ‘Migration and Development: The Nepalese in Northeast,’ Economic and Political Weekly, 16(24), 1981, 1053–1055.

  23. 23.

    Jytte Agergaard & Ditte Broegger, ‘Returning Home: Migrant Connections and Visions for Local Development in Rural Nepal,’ Geografisk Tidsskrift – Danish Journal of Geography, 116(1), 2016, 71–81.

  24. 24.

    Prakash Dahal, ‘The Impact of Remittances on Economic Growth in Nepal: An Analysis of a Significant Basis of Development,’ Asia Pacific Journal of Public Administration, 36(4), 2014, 261–282.

  25. 25.

    Prakash C. Jain, ‘Indians Abroad: A Current Population Estimate,’ Economic and Political Weekly, 17(8), 1982, 299–304.

  26. 26.

    Shantayanan Devarajan and Ijaz Nabi, ‘Economic Growth in South Asia: Promising, Unequalising, Sustainable?’ Economic and Political Weekly, 41(33), 2006, 3573–3580.

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Roy, T. (2017). Migration. In: The Economy of South Asia. Palgrave Studies in Economic History. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54720-6_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54720-6_11

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-54719-0

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