Law and Development

Written by Ezra Rosser The New York Times recently published a story -- Norimitsu Onishi, Toiling Far From Home for Philippine Dreams, New York Times, Sept. 18, 2010 -- that gives me a chance, really an excuse, to blog about an issue that interests me a great deal: immigrant remittances.  The New York Times has to its credit covered this issue quite well.  Although slightly dated, a 2007 interactive graphic -- Snapshot: Global Migration -- includes eye-opening global maps of money sent home (the N.Y. Times' language, not mine) by immigrants, and the related percentage of GDP that amounts to for receiving countries.  Perhaps the most in depth Times article on the topic also focused on the Philippines and is a great place to start for those not familiar with the topic of immigrant remittances: Jason DeParle, A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves, New York Times, Apr. 22, 2007. The legal academy is in the midst of what optimistically might be called a mini-wave of writing on immigrant remittances.  Adam Feibelman has recently published, The Very Uneasy Case Against Remittances: An Ex Ante Perspective, 88 N.C. L. Rev. 1771 (2010).  That one article is enough for a mini-wave in this area considering how under-explored remittances have been by legal academics.  But Heather Hughes also has a book chapter on remittances coming out soon. My own article, Immigrant Remittances, 41 Conn. L. Rev. 1 (2008), is a bit older and is less technical than the book chapter and, given the newest article, perhaps could be characterized as The Uneasy Case For Remittances.  In it, I argue against what I call institutional capture of the remittance phenomenon.  The focus is on remittances to Latin America and in particular to El Salvador.  Remittances raise a number of questions about immigration, law and development, family law, and poverty alleviation...