Migration, Remittances, and Household Strategies

Abstract

In this review, I examine the meaning, place, and role of remittances for migrants (movers) and for their sending households and communities. I define remittances as more than economic and explore the cultural and social value of remittances as well as the ways in which transnational space is created as movers and nonmovers interact. Although remittances are often critical to the well-being and survival of migrant sending households, this review also defines the costs that movers face as they remit and the positive as well as negative impacts remittances can hold for sending households.