Barbara Merz - Publications

Books

Diasporas and Development

Edited by Barbara J. Merz, Lincoln C. Chen, and Peter F. Geithner

Harvard University Press (2007)
Order your copy here.

Just as trade, finance, information, and technologies are moving rapidly across borders, so too have labor markets and transnational migrant communities. Migrants are sending large quantities of money back to their countries of origin in the form of philanthropy, remittances, and commercial investments. They are also sharing knowledge and skills learned or developed abroad.

Is greater global equity an inevitable consequence of such diaspora philanthropy, or can this giving actually aggravate inequity? Diasporas and Development examines the positive--and sometimes negative--impacts of diaspora engagement in Africa, Asia, Central America, and the Caribbean.

New Patterns for Mexico: Observations on Remittances, Philanthropic Giving, and Equitable Development

Nuevas Pautas para México: Observaciones sobre Remesas, Donaciones Filantrópicas y Desarrollo Equitativo

Barbara J. Merz, Ed.

Harvard University Press (2005)
Order your copy here.

In our globalizing world, the movement of people and resources has accelerated, giving rise to transnational connections and interdependencies. New Patterns for Mexico examines novel and emerging patterns of United States giving to Mexico and its impact on equitable development. This volume builds upon the earlier work of Diaspora Philanthropy: Perspectives on India and China and continues the Philanthropy Program's research series on the relationship between diaspora engagement and equitable development.

Last year alone, Mexican migrants living in the United States sent billions of dollars back to families and relatives living in Mexico. Most of these funds were for private consumption, but more and more diaspora resources support social and philanthropic endeavors in their country of origin. This Spanish/English bilingual volume asks: what are these new patterns of diaspora giving and how do they affect equitable development in Mexico?

Articles

Alliance Magazine, December 2005

One of the effects of globalization has been the increasing movement of people, often unskilled labour, to neighbouring countries. Canada and the US, for example, receive large numbers of undocumented migrants from the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America; Western Europe receives large numbers from the Mediterranean basin. Many of these migrants send remittances to support families back home. In the case of Mexican migrants, remittances are estimated to be over $16 billion annually and growing. They exceed foreign direct investment and dwarf overseas development aid. While attention has generally been drawn to the scale of these remittances, there is also mounting interest in the small, yet rapidly growing, trend of migrant philanthropy.

Continue reading "Diaspora Giving and Equitable Development in Mexico" from the December 2005 issue of Alliance Magazine.