ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the impact of remittances on the labour source countries. A general theoretical treatment precedes an empirical overview and a continent-wise literature review on remittance flows. Remittances are financial flows from the migrants to their home countries. They are central to the debates about the costs and benefits of emigration. If labour is considered an exportable commodity, then remittances are that part of the payment for labour exports that returns to the exporting country. The IMF World Economic Outlook 2005 reports of total worker remittances to developing countries as close to $100 billion. Remittances in the 1980s and 1990s were substantial in Asian economies, particularly in South and Southeast Asia. The major beneficiaries of remittances were India, Egypt, Bangladesh, Pakistan and the Philippines. The economies of a number of Pacific island countries have become increasingly dependent on remittances of migrants. Remittances have been most significant in the island economies of the Pacific.
