ABSTRACT
One intriguing angle of analysis that may help explicate the two issues is a discussion of the economic potential of the diaspora in the context of massive labor migration, underdevelopment, and poverty alleviation as part of the region's broader macroeconomic development. Deviating from the chronological structure of the preceding discussion, this chapter offers a comparative study of the CEE/FSU region, with an emphasis on the problems of labor migration and the diaspora role in development. Collapse of the state-funded welfare networks created a void in previously functioning support programs. In early 1990s, poverty rates skyrocketed, inequality worsened, and the unemployment rate hit double digits, leading to a further deterioration in human welfare. As nationalist topics dominated the early 1990s political agendas, massive population swaps along the ethnic lines gave rise to millions of forced migrants and refugees swelling economically fragile communities of the destination countries. Khemraj and Pasha contend that remittances represent a constant and non-volatile inflow of foreign exchange.
