Migration, Return and Socio-Economic Change in West Africa: The Role of Family
Abstract
This paper seeks to analyse the influence of migrants바카라 사이트™ families on return and the transfer of financial, human and social capital by West African migrants who have lived in Europe and North America. Based on a survey of over 600 바카라 사이트˜elite바카라 사이트™ and less skilled return migrants to Côte d바카라 사이트™Ivoire and Ghana, as well as qualitative research with migrants remaining in London and Paris, the paper argues that families play an important role in return migration, remittances, and aspects of human, social and financial capital acquisition and investment. Using Cerase바카라 사이트™s typology of return migration, the analysis seeks to discriminate between migrants whose return decisions were affected by their families 바카라 사이트“ considered as 바카라 사이트˜return of conservatism바카라 사이트™, and those who made individual return decisions 바카라 사이트“ considered as 바카라 사이트˜return of innovation바카라 사이트™. The findings reveal that the relationship between the type of return (and extent of family involvement in this decision), and the extent of financial, human and social capital transfers, varies between countries and across groups of migrants. Although those whose return is influenced by their families might be considered to have made more 바카라 사이트˜conservative바카라 사이트™ return decisions, this group was found to be more likely to have transferred financial capital to their home country, and more likely to have maintained social capital gained abroad after their return. They were also as likely as 바카라 사이트˜innovative바카라 사이트™ returnees to have promoted changes in family life or in the workplace. The paper concludes by exploring several policy implications.
Citation
Sussex Centre for Migration Research, University of Sussex, UK. Sussex Migration Working Paper no. 15, 20 pp.
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