William Shaw

Leveraging Migration for Africa: Remittances, Skills, and Investments

International migration has profound implications for human welfare, and African governments have had only a limited influence on welfare outcomes, for good or ill. Improved efforts to manage migration will require information on the nature and impact of migratory patterns. This book seeks to contribute toward this goal, by reviewing previous research and providing new analyses (including surveys and case studies) as well as by formulating policy recommendations that can improve the migration experience for migrants, origin countries, and destination countries. The book comprises this introduction and summary and four chapters. Chapter one reviews the data on African migration and considers the challenges African governments face in managing migration. Chapter two discusses the importance of remittances, the most tangible link between migration and development; it also identifies policies that can facilitate remittance flows to Africa and increase their development impact. Chapter three analyzes high-skilled emigration and analyzes policies that can limit adverse implications and maximize positive implications for development. Chapter four considers ways in which Africa can leverage its diaspora resources to increase trade, investment, and access to technology.

MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES

This paper examines patterns of remittances among migrants from Guizhou province of China. Our research is motivated by three lines of theoretical arguments, namely the new economics of migration, a translocal perspective linking remittances and development, and the culture of remittances. Taking individual, household, and village-level characteristics into account, we estimated multilevel logistic models of the decision to remit and multilevel models of the amount of remittances. Our results show that migrant remittance behaviour is responsive to family needs as well as household economic position in the village. Migrants who come from entrepreneurial households are more likely to remit a large amount than other types of households. We find some evidence of ‘culture of remittances’ in these villages. Consistent with our expectations, migrants who are from villages with higher amounts of average remittances are likely to remit a larger amount than otherwise.

Corporate restructuring : Lessons from experience

In the wake of the periodic financial crises of the late 1990s, the international financial institutions and many experts have recognized the need for a strategy to avoid and mitigate the severity of crises in the corporate sector. Addressing this problem requires the complementary efforts of policymakers, regulators, lawyers, insolvency experts, corporate restructuring specialists, and financiers. What are the roots of corporate distress? Can systemic corporate crises be predicted? What is the role of legal frameworks in preventing and coping with a crisis? What are the most effective financial techniques for dealing with distressed corporate organizations? This volume takes a multidisciplinary perspective on corporate restructuring, and examines international experiences in dealing with corporate crises.