REVISITING MIGRATION-DEVELOPMENT NEXUS: A MICRO-LEVEL STUDY IN DHAKA CITY OF BANGLADESH

Linking migration to development is not a new topic for the international community. From 1950s scholars started to inspect direct and indirect impact  

Syeda Tanzia Sultana is Research Officer at Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies

(BIISS). Her e-mail address is: syedatanziasultana@gmail.com
© Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS), 2019.

of migration on development. Consequently, different scholars link migration to development differently. Chronologically, the literature on migration-development nexus can be categorized into three phases. In the first ‘optimistic phase’ of the 1950- 60s, scholars focussed on the effect of remittance and return migration which was then considered to be beneficial for development.1 It was believed that migrants not only bring back remittance but also new ideas, knowledge and entrepreneurial attitudes.2 In the 1970s and 1980s, scholars of the second phase challenged the idea that migration could benefit development.3 They argued that migration contributes to poverty and underdevelopment in the South, as well as increasing its dependency on the North. The concept of ‘brain drain’- skills and knowledge could be lost to migration - dominated the debates at that time.4 In the third phase (since the 1990s), ‘optimism’ once again prevailed and migration was seen as leading to or facilitating development.5 The notion ‘brain drain’ was replaced by one of ‘brain gain’: that is by a focus on the knowledge and qualifications that returning migrants bring to their home countries. Consequently, discussions about remittance attained the status of a ‘development mantra’ which shapes the debate to the present day.6 The literature of the first and third phase portrays the linkage between migration and development positively. On the contrary, the second phase portrays it negatively. 

Indeed, over the past five decades, the analytical framework applied economic indicators, e.g., poverty reduction, GDP growth, remittance and national income, etc. to measure the impacts of migration on the development process of originating countries. However, since 1980 the concept of development has been viewed from the human perspective instead of economic perspective. It focuses on human indicators, e.g., freedom, choice, opportunity and capability. It argues that the basic goal of development is to create an environment that enables people to enlarge their freedom, choices, opportunities and capacities, etc.7 Hence, the existing literature on migration-development nexus ignores the human face of development and pushes people from centre to periphery of development. In this backdrop, the paper provides an alternative framework to understand the migration-development nexus. It also argues that by enlarging choices, creating opportunities and building  

1Charles P. Kindleberger, Europe’s Postwar Growth: The Role of Labor Supply, Cambridge, MA: Harvard

University Press, 1967, p. 127.
2
 Hein de Haas, “Migration and Development: A Theoretical Perspective”, International Migration Review, Vol.
14, No. 1, 2010, pp. 227-264.
3
 Demetrios G. Papademetriou, “Illusions and Reality in International Migration: Migration and Development
in Post World War II Greece”, International Migration, Vol. 23, No. 2, 1985, pp. 211-223. 4
 George B. Baldwin, “Brain Drain or Overflow?”, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 48, No. 2, 1970, pp. 358-372. 5
 Stephen Castles, “Development and Migration-Migration and Development: What Comes First? Global
Perspective and African Experiences”, Theoria, Vol. 56, No. 121, 2009, pp. 1-31. 6
 Martin Geiger and Antoine Pécoud, “Migration, Development and the ‘Migration and Development Nexus”,
Population, Space and Place, Vol. 19, No. 4, 2013, p. 369; Hein de Haas, “The Migration and Development
Pendulum: A Critical View on Research and Policy”, International Migration, Vol. 50, No. 3, 2012, p. 8. 7
 Mahbub ul Haq, Human Development in South Asia 1999: The Crisis of Governance, New York, USA: Oxford
University Press, 2000, p. 11. 

capabilities international labour migration influences the development of the country of origin at the household level. Though numerous cases show high risks associated with failed migration, the paper limits its scope to those households of Dhaka city whose members are gainfully employed in foreign countries.

International labour migration plays a significant role in the development of Bangladesh. It has increased rapidly since 2007 which put Bangladesh as one of the dominant labour migrant-sending countries.8 According to the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET), a total of 12,583,936 Bangladeshi workers migrated to the Gulf and other countries of destination from 1976-2019 (up to July). Data from 2001 to 2019 reveals that 70 per cent of total labour migration was in different countries of the Middle East and Southeast Asia.9 One of the largest international labour migrant-sending districts of Bangladesh is Dhaka which constitutes 4.84 per cent of the total labour migrants of Bangladesh. It is the fourth important source district after Cumilla, Brahmanbaria and Chattogram.10 

In this context, the paper attempts to revisit migration-development nexus from the perspective of human indicators of development. The paper follows an eclectic method comprising both qualitative and quantitative methods. It examines existing literature on migration-development nexus that comes from variety of sources, e.g.,government and non-government documents, academic journals, books and newspaper articles. It also relies on primary data from the semi-structured indepth interview of Bangladeshi international labour migrants and their households. A basic survey had been done also over the households. For the convenience of the discussion, the paper is divided into five sections including introduction and conclusion. The second section comprehensively discusses the concept of migration and development. It also explains the analytical framework of the paper. The third section deals with the basic features of international labour migration from Dhaka city of Bangladesh. The fourth section revisits the migration-development nexus from the perspective of human indicators of development. The fifth section concludes the paper.

The term migration-development nexus refers to the complex interrelations between migration and development. Throughout history, two divergent views regarding development and migration are visible. The first view is the ‘balanced 

8Md. Abdul Hye, “Impact of Remittances on Remittance-Recipient Households’ Socio-Economic Behavior:

A Study in Moulvibazar District of Bangladesh”, IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science, Vol. 22, No. 1,
2017, p. 44.
9
 Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET), available at http://www.old.bmet.gov.bd/BMET/
stattisticalDataAction, accessed on 27 August 2019.
10 Ibid. 

growth’ approach which refers that migration enhances development in countries of origin, narrows inter-country income disparities and eventually makes migration unnecessary by alleviating unemployment and providing economic support through remittance and developing migrants’ skills.11 The second view is the ‘systematic view’ which suggests that migration often distorts the development process through poverty, dependency and widening of income disparities.12 Although migration is an integral part of the development process, migration-development nexus is a very complex subject of discussion.13 On the one hand, migration cannot be explained in terms of simple movement of people from one place to another. On the other hand, development cannot be explained only in terms of economic growth. Hence, the understanding of the relationship between the two concepts is limited as both are highly dynamic and can be assessed from different perspectives.14 To revisit migrationdevelopment nexus, the existing definitions of migration and development need an assessment.

Migration is one of the distinguishing features of human beings that have been occurring since their appearance in this universe.15 The concept of migration is very complex. Different scholars have tried to define the concept of migration distinctly because of their different approaches.16 As a result, scholars remain unable to provide a universally accepted definition which in all circumstances recognized as standard criteria applicable at all spatial units and scales.

Literally, migration refers to the shifting of people or an individual or group of an individual from one cultural area to another, which may be permanent or temporary. Colin Newell considers migration as one of the important components of population change.17 According to John Innes Clarke and Glenn T. Trewartha, migration is the movement of an individual from one place of residence to another to remain in a new place for some substantial period.18 International Organization for Migration (IOM) defines a migrant as any person who is moving or has moved across an international border or within a state away from his/her habitual place of residence, regardless of  

11 Ronald Skeldon, Migration and Development: A Global Perspective, Harlow, England: Longman, 1997, p. 30. 12 Hein De Haas, “Migration and Development: A Theoretical Perspective”, op. cit.; Hein de Haas, “The

Migration and Development Pendulum: A Critical View on Research and Policy”, op. cit., p. 15.
13 Md. Shahidul Haque, “Orderly and Humane Migration: An Emerging Paradigm for Development”, BIISS
Journal, Vol. 23, No. 1, 2002, p. 3. 14 Ibid.
15 G. J. Lewis, Human Migration: A Geographical Perspective, London and Canberra: Croom Helm, 1982, p. 145. 16 A.A.I.N. Wickramasinghe and Wijitapure Wimalaratana, “International Migration and Migration Theories”,
Social Affairs, Vol. 1, No. 5, 2016, pp. 13-32. 17 Colin Newell, Methods and Models in Demography, London: Belhaven Press, 1988, p. 82. 18 John Innes Clarke, Population Geography, Oxford: Pergamum Press, 1965, p. 123; Glenn T. Trewartha, A
Geography of Population: World Patterns, New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc, 1969, p. 139. 

the person’s legal status, whether the movement is voluntary or involuntary, what the causes for the movement are and what the length of the stay is.19 

Migration can be classified differently because it takes various criteria and factors into consideration. Depending on the length of time, migration may be classified as short-term and long-term, depending on legality it can be divided as free migration, managed migration, regular migration and irregular migration and depending on the length of distance migration may be classified as short-distance and long-distance.20 Depending upon decision-making approach, it is known as voluntary and involuntary, based on cause and motivation it can be divided as labour migration, health migration, study migration and business migration and based on number it can be divided as individual and group migration. Broadly, migration is categorized as international and internal migration.21 As the paper takes account of international labour migration from Bangladesh as a case study, hence, the existing concept needs an assessment. 

IOM defines international labour migrants as those who move for employment. According to International Labour Organization (ILO), it refers to a person who migrates from one country to another with a view to being employed other than on his own account and includes any person regularly admitted as a migrant for employment.22 The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of their Families defines labour migration as a person who is to be engaged, is engaged or has been engaged in a remunerated activity in a state of which he or she is not a citizen.23 Depending on employment it may be categorized as professionals, skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled. Doctors, engineers, teachers and nurses are considered as professional workers, while manufacturing or garment workers, cooks, drivers, computer operators and electricians as skilled. Tailors and masons are considered as semi-skilled and housemaids, agricultural workers, hotel workers and menial workers as unskilled workers.24 The paper limits its scope to the voluntary movement of a skilled individual across the international boundaries for employment. It includes those individuals who keep on moving between their place of origin and destination.  

19 International Organization for Migration, “Who is a Migrant?”, available at https://www.iom.int/who-is-amigrant, accessed on 14 January 2019.

20 R. C. Chandna, Geography of Population: Concepts, Determinants and Patterns,New Delhi: Kalyani Publishers,
1998, p. 88.
21 Pieter Kok, “The Definition of Migration and its Application: Making Sense of Recent South African Census
and Survey Data”, SA Journal of Demography, Vol. 7, No. 1, 1999, pp. 19-30. 22 International Labour Organization, “Migrant Workers”, available at https://www.ilo.org/public/english/
standards/relm/ilc/ilc87/r3-1b2.htm, accessed on 18 January 2019.
23 Erica Usher, “Migration and Labour”, in Erica Usher (ed.), Essentials of Migration Management: A Guide for
Policy Makers and Practitioners, Geneva: United Nations Publications, 2004, p. 23. 24 K. S. Farid, L. Mozumdar, M. S. Kabir and K. B. Hossain, “Trends in International Migration and Remittance
Flows: Case of Bangladesh”,Journal of the Bangladesh Agricultural University, Vol. 7, No. 2, 2009, pp. 387-394. 

Similarly, development is inherently both complex and ambiguous concept and for almost every writer, a different definition of development exists. It can be defined from two perspectives, e.g., economic and human. From economic perspective, development is considered as a natural consequence of economic growth. It considers growth as capable of promoting society’s development through solving problems arising from varied dimensions.25 Peter Preston refers development as economic growth.26 He argues as the economy grows it makes greater availability of resources for the population, therefore benefiting the poorest.27 Michael P. Todaro and Stephen C. Smith define development as achieving sustainable rates of growth and income per capita to enable the nation to expand its output faster than the population.28 Economic perspective on development concentrates to a great extent on ways of achieving economic growth and in particular, increasing the gross national product (GNP) and total employment.29  

Human perspective on development arose as a result of growing criticism of the leading development approach of the 1980s which focussed on national product, aggregate income and supply of particular goods. Many scholars, especially Amartya Sen, Mahbub ul Haq and Martha Nussbaum have played a key role in formulating an alternative development paradigm focusing on human choices, capabilities and freedom. As economic growth is one of the aspects of development, Sen calls for broadening of the term ‘development’ beyond the current narrow focus on economic measures such as per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and national income level.30 He defines development as the process of enlarging a person’s “functionings and capabilities to function”.31 He also argues that the purpose of development is to improve human lives by expanding the range of things that a person can be and do, such as to be healthy and well-nourished, to be knowledgeable and to participate in community life.32 In his book, Development as Freedom, he defines development as 

25 Jair Soares Jr. and Rogério H. Quintella, “Development: An Analysis of Concepts, Measurement and

Indicators”, Brazilian Administration Review, Vol. 5, No. 2, 2008, p. 108. 26 Peter Preston, Development Theory: An Introduction to the Analysis of Complex Change, Oxford: Blackwell
Publishers, 1996, p. 169.
27 Ibid.
28 Michael P. Todaro and Stephen C. Smith, Economic Development, New York: Addison Wesley, 2011, p. 269. 29 P. N. Rosenstein-Rodan, “Problems of Industrialization in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe”, The Economic
Journal, Vol. 53, No. 210/211, 1943, pp. 202-211; Kurt Mandelbaum and J. R. L Schneider, The Industrialization
of Backward Areas, Oxford: Blackwell, 1945; Maurice Herbert Dobb, Some Aspects of Economic Development,
Delhi: Delhi School of Economics, 1951; Bhabatosh Datta, Economics of Industrialization, Calcutta: World
Press, 1952; Paul A. Baran, Political Economy of Growth, New York: Monthly Review Press, 1957; Amartya
Sen, “The Concept of Development”, in H. Chenery and T. N. Srinivasan (eds.), Handbook of Development
Economics, Amsterdam: North Holland, 1988. 30 Amartya Sen, “Development: Which Way Now?”, The Economic Journal, Vol. 93, No. 372, 1983, pp. 748-752. 31 Ibid.
32 Amartya Sen, “Development as Capabilities Expansion”, Journal of Development Planning, Vol. 19, 1989,
pp. 41-58. 

the removal of various types of unfreedoms that leave people with little opportunity of exercising their reasoned agency.33 Development can be seen as a process of expanding the real freedoms that people enjoy, the expansion of the ‘capabilities’ of persons to lead the kind of lives they value. Sen describes human freedom as both the primary end objective and the principal means of development; economic measures are merely the means to this end.34 From his viewpoint, development is about removing the obstacles, e.g., illiteracy, ill health and lack of access to resources. 

With a view to shifting the focus of development economics from national income accounting to people-centred policies, Mahbub ul Haq launched the first Human Development Report (HDR) in 1990. Sen’s work on development provided the strong conceptual foundation for HDR. Sen’s ideas over development as enlarging capabilities and functionings are expressed in the HDRs as expanding ‘choices’.35 HDR defined human development as a process of enlarging people’s choices. The most critical of these wide-ranging choices are to live a long and healthy life, to be educated and to have access to resources needed for a decent standard of living.36 In the subsequent HDRs, there is a clear common definition of human development as a process of ‘enlarging people’s choices’. Enlarging human choices is critically linked to two issues: capabilities on the one hand and opportunities on the other. Human choices are enlarged when people acquire more capabilities and enjoy more opportunities to use those capabilities. 37 

The development process covers complexity of relationships. Its analysis, therefore, cannot be restricted only to the economic dimension. Hence, this paper defines development as economic growth associated with creating opportunities, building capabilities and enlarging choices of human.

The paper mostly concurs with the assertion of human development. It therefore, acknowledges that economic growth is one aspect of the process of development and it is no more than a means to some other objectives. Moreover, the process of development has to be concerned with human well-being and it can be assessed by how well it expands the capabilities of people.  

33 Amartya Sen, Development as Freedom, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999, p. 366. 34 Ibid.

35 Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, “The Human Development Paradigm: Operationalizing Sen’s Ideas on Capabilities”,
Feminist Economics, Vol. 9, No. 2-3, pp. 303-304. 36 Mahbub ul Haq, Human Development Report 1990, New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990. 37 “Human Development: Definition, Concept and Larger Context”, available at https://pdfs.semanticscholar.
org/71d7/650ac5c96457adeda4079c8be8146411be6a.pdf, accessed on 23 January 2019. 

In the current debate surrounding migration-development, migration is viewed as a constituent part and an independent factor influencing development. However, to measure the influence of migration over development, existing literature focuses on the economic indicators of development like growth, productivity, national income, GDP, equality and equity. But, preoccupation with economic growth and the creation of wealth and material opulence has obscured the fact that development is ultimately about people. Consequently, it has had the unfortunate effect of pushing people from centre to periphery of migration-development debates. Thus, the paper attempts to revisit the migration-development nexus from the perspective of human development and put people back where they belong at the centre of the debate. 

The analytical framework employed for this paper is the construct of development by synthesizing different scholars’ analytical framework mentioned above. It chooses three indicators of human development, e.g., creating opportunities, building capabilities and enlarging choices. Creating opportunities refer to better access to more favourable and advantageous circumstances to do something. Building human capabilities refers to the increasing ability of a person to do effectively something. Capabilities cannot be enlarged unless opportunities exist. Enlarging human choices refer to the formation or enhancement of capabilities by which a person gets a series of options to make a choice among them. On the other hand, migration provides incentives for resource formation in the source country.38 In other words, the impact of migration transferred to the origin country through the formation of various resources like financial, natural, human and manufactured. Different studies found that the level of resource formation in the source country is positively correlated to migration. Certainly, these accumulated resources through migration have development implication.39 Hence, the analytical framework also identifies four types of resources, e.g., financial, natural, human and manufactured to measure the impact of international labour migration on human development. By providing an improved and alternative understanding of the relationship between migration and development, these resources would help to assess the elements of human development.  

38 Jean-Pierre Vidal, “The Effect of Emigration on Human Capital Formation”, Journal of Population Economics,

Vol. 11, No. 4, 1998, pp. 589-600.
39 Gordon L. Clark and Meric Gertler, “Migration and Capital”, Annals of the Association of American
Geographers, Vol. 73, No. 1, 1983, pp. 18-34; J. A. Ekpere, W. C. Weidemann and S.W. Eremie, “Rural-urban
Migration and Capital Transfer: Possible Effects on Food Prices in Nigeria”, Agricultural Administration, Vol.
11, No. 2, 1982, pp. 97-106; Savina Ammassari and Richard Black, Harnessing the Potential of Migration
and Return to Promote Development: Applying Concepts to West Africa, Geneva, Switzerland: International
Organization for Migration, 2001, pp. 25-30; Sayre P. Schatz, “The Role of Capital Accumulation in Economic
Development”, The Journal of Development Studies, Vol. 5, No. 1, 1968, pp. 39-43.

Over several decades, in development paradigm, migration has come forth as an important issue and generated considerable attention among policymakers and academia. Consequently, it has created a debate regarding migration and development. Previously, migration was seen as a problem with a negative connotation for development. Presently, there is a growing recognition that migration and migrants can contribute to the development of the countries of host and origin, their families and communities through remittance. However, most of these debates have underpinned migration as a purposive intervention and privileging economic aspects, e.g., poverty reduction, national income and GDP growth of development. Moreover, limited attention has been paid to human aspects, e.g., freedom, choice, opportunity, capability of development. Hence, the paper aims to bring human development literature to bear on migration-development nexus. In this respect, it identifies three indicators, e.g., creating opportunities, building capabilities and enlarging choices to measure the impact of international labour migration on development over four types of resources, e.g., financial, natural, human and manufactured. The paper also takes account of international labour migrants’ household in Dhaka city of Bangladesh as a case study.  

Based on the above discussion, this empirical study reveals that migration plays a significant role in the human development process of origin country at the micro-level through accumulating financial, natural, human and manufactured resources. With respect to the financial resource, it increases the employment, income and saving opportunities and choices of the households. Moreover, accumulated financial resource through migration not only creates opportunities for the households to purchase additional land and release the mortgaged land but also enlarges the choices of the households to invest in agricultural production. Regarding human resource, it increases choices and opportunities to invest in education and health at the household level. In case of manufactured resource, accumulated financial, human and natural resources provide opportunities and choices for the households to invest in three kinds, e.g., agriculture, business and home repair and extension of productive ventures. 

Through the accumulation of four types of resources, migration by enlarging opportunities, capabilities and choices of the households creates a virtuous circle. In this circle, one resource initiates others and contributes to development. However, different patterns are seen in the circle. Financial resource directly creates opportunities, choices and capacities of the households to initiate natural, human and manufactured resources. In another way, financial resource together with human and natural resources initiates manufactured resources. Further, these resources maximize the financial resources of the households. Henceforth, this paper views the well-being of human as both the main end objective and basic means of development. However, the accumulation of financial resources is only a tool to gain this objective. 
 

The social order in Bangladesh has largely depended on kinship.40 Consequently, it helps Bangladesh to receive the benefits of international labour migration as the migrants having strong ties with home tend to send a sizable portion of their income back to Bangladesh.41 Thus, money sent from abroad directly reaches the household level and it has greater impacts on the development of Bangladesh at the micro-level. Hence, this section gives an overview of international labour migrants and their households. 

Primary data collected from the semi-structured in-depth interview of the selected migrants’ household in Dhaka city is the core of this study. The study area was selected based on the availability of households left behind by migrants in the Sutrapur Thana. The study was designed to conduct a semi-structured in-depth interview in a pre and post-recall method as there is no baseline data along with the inability to have an experimental study. The sampling unit is solely the migrants’ household. Purposive sampling was conducted in the absence of the documentation and the database of the studied population of Sutrapur Thana. Lists of 25 households were identified. Households whose member has been gainfully employed abroad for at least four years but not more than twelve years were selected as the population of the study. It was assumed that migrants needed a few years to settle in a foreign country and also the impact of migration would be negligible during the early period of migration. The maximum period of twelve years is deliberately chosen as recall method would be comparatively less effective and the impact of migration would be difficult to measure. The survey was done in the study area in 2018. 

International labour migrants are divided into professional, skilled, semiskilled and unskilled category but all the migrants of the sampled households are skilled labour and male. Only 38.9 per cent were married and 61.11 per cent were single when they migrated abroad. At present, only 5.6 per cent are single and 94.44 per cent are married. Main destination of the migrants are the Middle East and Southeast Asian countries. Among them, 27.78 per cent migrants reside in Saudi Arabia. The following figure shows the main destination of the migrants.  

40 Willem Van Schendel, A History of Bangladesh, New Delhi: Cambridge University Press, 2009, p. 134. 41 Md. Nurul Islam, “Bangladesh Expatriate Workers and their Contribution to National Development”,

Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET), Dhaka, BMET, 2011. 

From the studied sample, it is found that the duration of migrant’s staying abroad could be one of the most important factors in determining its impact on households. In this respect, the paper categorized migrants’ period of staying abroad into four parts, e.g., four years to six years, six years to eight years, eight years to ten years and ten years to twelve years. The sample of the study would be the households who have received the benefits of migration for at least four years but not more than twelve years. The following figure shows the percentage of migrants’ years of staying abroad. 

Most of the migrants of the sampled households have sufficient education. In figure 3, approximately 16.67 per cent hold postgraduate degree, 27.78 per cent hold graduate degree, 44.44 per cent completed Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSC) and 11.11 per cent completed only Secondary School Certificate (SSC). 

Economic factors, i.e., poverty, economic upliftment, sudden economic crisis and lack of employment opportunities were the main reasons for their migration. As a result, income from employment abroad is the main source of income in 94.44 per cent households. Moreover, 83.33 per cent of the household is living in extended families and 16.67 per cent in nuclear family. On average, the number of family members of the nuclear household is 4.1 per cent and extended family is 7.1 per cent.
 

The paper assesses the impact of migration on development by how well it expands the opportunities, capabilities and choices of people. It also views economic growth only a means and not an end in itself. Therefore, this section starts with analyzing the impact of migration on financial resources to revisit migrationdevelopment nexus.

Financial resource refers to cash, credit, savings and other tangible assets of economic value.42 It is an asset that exists in the form of currency that can be owned or traded. It reflects the productive power of other types of resources also. It facilitates economic production, though it is not itself productive. Financial resource is what allows all these productive activities to get going. To understand the impact of migration on development, the paper identifies two important components, e.g., income and saving of financial resource. 

From the studied households, it is found that migrant’s money consists of 65 per cent and even in some cases it consists of 90-95 per cent of the total income of the household. As a result, all the households experienced a rise in their income. It is also found that on an average each migrant remitted 65.75 per cent of his income. There is a great difference in terms of the monthly income of households before migration and during overseas stay. The following table makes a comparison between the monthly income of households before and during their staying abroad. 

Before migration, the households’ income did not vary from time to time. But after migration, the amount of the income does not remain the same. Because the amount of money depends on migrants’ duration of stay, level of their wage and necessary expense for subsistence, accommodation and transport abroad. Households whose members are staying abroad for more than ten years contribute 90-95 per cent of the household’s income. On the contrary, migrants who are living abroad for more than six years share 65 per cent of the households’ income. In effect, a longer stay can provide families with more financial resources; hence, all migrant’s households are not progressing in the same way and at the same pace.  

42 Syeda Rozana Rashid, Uncertain Tomorrows: Livelihoods, Capital and Risk in Labour Migration from

Bangladesh, Dhaka: The University Press Limited, 2016, pp. 6-13. 

 There is a close link between income and saving. The more a person earns, the more he is able to save. From zero level of savings, households now save a quarter of their total income. On an average, it accounts for 4.25 per cent of their total remittance. Savings are kept in banks, a few made fixed deposits, some created a monthly deposit in the bank and still, a few others have taken insurance policies. Of these households, 61.11 per cent have savings in banks. Moreover, every household tries to save some money at home. One of the migrants stated: 

“When I was in Bangladesh I had to borrow money from my friends as sometimes it became difficult for me to maintain the household expenses with my income. After migrating abroad, my family now saves minimum BDT 3,000 each month.” 

The bread earners, who were mostly unemployed or engaged in a job below their standard due to lack of employment opportunity in their home countries, have now jobs in overseas places. Therefore, international labour migration certainly creates employment opportunity for the bread earners of the households which in turn enlarges the capabilities and choices of the households to increase their income and saving. 

Natural resource refers to air, water, land and other environmental assets.43 It is the natural assets and processes needed for producing goods and services. It is not man-made and considered as scarce materials also. Among these enormous natural resources, migration has a crucial impact on access to land.

The cost of migration varies from case to case basis. On average, the expense of migration for per migrant is BDT 2,10,000.44 From the sample, it is found that while going abroad 61.11 per cent of the households arranged the fund for migration by selling land, 22.22 per cent by mortgaging land and 16.66 per cent by taking loan from the bank. After migration, a considerable portion of households’ income and in some cases saving is spent for purchasing land. All households consider land as the safest and most profitable investment. About 61.11 per cent households remain able to purchase additional land. Moreover, these households choose to invest in all kinds of land: arable, homestead and commercial, etc. Of these households, 72.72 per cent bought arable land and 27.27 per cent homestead land. Some changes have occurred in the landholding pattern of the households also. In two cases, there has been a reduction in ownership over arable land, while with regard to homestead land there has been an increase. Purchase of land also depends on the duration of migrants’ staying abroad. The households’ percentage of using remittance for buying   

43 Ibid., p. 11.

44 Md. Abdul Hye, op. cit., p. 50.  

lands are higher who have been receiving remittance for a longer period of eight to twelve years. In contrast, 38.88 per cent of the households could not buy additional land as they are receiving remittance for four to six years. The analysis also reveals that these migrants’ households dream to build tangible properties especially on land after repayment of the loan and mortgaged land.

Releasing mortgaged land is also quite important in the rural context as it reestablishes the right of a person to cultivate the land. Migrant’s money also helped to retrieve the mortgaged land. About 75 per cent households who are staying abroad for more than six years retrieved their mortgaged land.  

Therefore, international labour migration creates an opportunity for the household to accumulate financial resources. Later, these financial resources build the capabilities of the household to purchase additional land and release the mortgaged land. Moreover, it also enlarges the choices of the household to invest in agricultural production. Households contributed to agricultural development more by using improved seeds, adequate fertilizer, regular irrigation, irrigation pump and insecticides. Consequently, arable land immediately accumulates financial resources through crop production and value of both arable and homestead land increases over time. 

Human resource refers to the knowledge, skills, intellectual outputs, motivation and capacity acquired through nurturance, physical and mental health and education. There are two contrasting views regarding the impact of international labour migration on human resource. The first view argues that remittance spent on consumption to raise the status and comfort of migrant’s family but these types of expenditure could be invested elsewhere in a more productive way. They denote expenditure on health care, food and schooling as unproductive and nondevelopmental.45 The second view argues that the distinction between consumption and investment expenditure is rather blurred. In fact, it can be argued that spending on consumption and services (education and health) is considered productive as it increases productive capacity and brings income to households.46 Laura Diaconu, Andrei Maxim and Cristian C. Popescu assert that investment in education requires not only material resources but also a long period of time, resulting in the increase of the income of the family members. From a study, it is evident that each additional schooling year increases the income with about 20 per cent.47 The paper supports the  

45 Savina Ammassari and Richard Black, op. cit., pp. 27-29.

46 Sharon Stanton Russell, “Remittances from International Migration: A Review in Perspective”, World
Development, Vol. 14, No. 6, 1986, pp. 677-696; Sharon Stanton Russell, “Migrant Remittances and
Development”, International Migration, Vol. 30, No. 3-4, 1992, pp. 267-287. 47 Laura Diaconu (Maxim), Andrei Maxim and Cristian C. Popescu, “The Impact of Migration on Human
Capital and Economic Development”, Economy and Management, 2014, pp. 32-39. 

second view. It also identifies three sub-indicators, e.g., ability to access, quality of the service and improvement in social status and living standard of the macro-indicators of education and health.

The study found that the largest use of remittance received by households of international labour migrants is for consumption and services (education and health). Research completed by Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) found that the total expenditure on education and health of international migrant producing households on average grew by 30 per cent.48 Another study found that 55.65 per cent of the total remittance is spent by families on health care and children’s education.49 A similar study found that around 40 per cent of migrants’ families used remittance to educate children and treat sick members.50 

Before migration, 20-22 per cent of the households’ income was used for services. In contrast, after migration, 40-42 per cent of the households’ income was utilized for food and medical treatment. International migrant producing households are spending on average BDT 2000-2500 monthly for medical treatment and medicines. The study observed a very rapid increase in health expenditure. Households use both private and public hospital for health services. The use of the private clinic is more frequent among households who receive remittance for more than ten years. Approximately, 18.2 per cent of households who receive remittance for eight to ten years use private clinics, which increased to 33.33 per cent for those who receive remittance for ten to twelve years. In contrast, 10.03 per cent of the households who receive remittance for four to six years use public hospitals. Moreover, households’ spending on food is not conspicuous rather they ensure a better diet to help meet their caloric needs, particularly for the younger ones. Similarly, a study undertaken by RMMRU found that international migrants spent 71 per cent more in health services compared to non-migrants and 65 per cent more than the internal migrants’ household.51 Due to migration, households’ ability to access quality health services (use of private hospitals instead of the public hospitals) intensifies which consequently improves the social status and living standard of the household. 

Besides, a better prospect is associated with migration influence towards gaining higher and quality education. The study revealed that in almost all cases, remittance is used to educate children mostly at SSC, HSC and for higher studies levels  

48 Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU), “The Impact of Migration on Household

Income, Expenditure and Poverty”, Policy Brief No. 24, Dhaka, RMMRU, 2017.
49 Tasneem Siddiqui, Transcending Boundaries: Labour Migration of Women from Bangladesh, Dhaka:
University Press, 2001, p. 223.
50 Rita Afsar, “Internal Migration and the Development Nexus: the Case of Bangladesh”, paper presented
in the Regional Conference on Migration, Development and Pro-poor Policy Choices in Asia, organized by
RMMRU and Department for International Development, Dhaka, on 22-24 June 2003.
51 Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU), “Impact of Migration on Poverty and Local
Development”, Policy Brief No. 14, Dhaka, RMMRU, 2014. 

but patterns changes. After migration 44.05 per cent of the households admitted their child in private institutions because they believe it will provide quality education. One migrant expressed, 

“It’s been a great pleasure to hear from my son that his new school is very good and in the final exam he secured 3rd position. 

The study showed that the current budget for educational expense increases compared to the previous budget. In general, 8-10 per cent of households’ income was used for child education before migration. However, after migration 20-22 per cent of households’ income was used for education. Similarly, a study found that school enrolment rates among members of migrants’ families in rural areas are greater compared with age cohorts of non-migrant families.52 The households who receive remittance for a longer period have higher expenditure on education. The expense involves study materials such as books and stationary, uniforms, snacks, school fees, transport and private tuition. A parallel study found that international migrants’ household spent 33 per cent more on private tutoring compared to internal migrants and 37 per cent more than non-migrants’ household.53 Because of migration, households’ members’ abilities to access to education and acquire quality education (SSC, HSC and higher education both in Bangladesh and abroad) expanded which in turn increase their employment opportunity and income. As a result, the social status and living standard of the households enhanced. For example, the study also found that 11.11 per cent of the households sent their sons aboard (Australia and Canada) for better education. After finishing their studies successfully, they are now working in private companies abroad. Another 27.77 per cent of the households’ members after finishing their higher studies are employed in public and private services in Bangladesh. 

Hence, migration certainly creates opportunities for households to enhance their financial resources. For instance, financial resource assists them to build the capacities and enlarge the choices of families to expand their daily food intake, eating quality food, taking good care of health and sending their children to better educational institutes with adequate learning materials. Consequently, expenditure in such areas facilitates households’ well-being and ability of the family members to get better employment with greater income which in turn enhances the social status as well as the living standard of the household. 

Manufactured resource is material goods and infrastructure that contributes to production or service provision but do not become part of its output. It consists  

52 Rita Afsar, op. cit.

53 Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU), “Impact of Migration on Poverty and Local
Development”, op. cit.  

of financial, human and natural resources. In other words, it is generated through applying financial resources or human productive activities or both to natural resources which in turn is capable of providing the flow of goods or services. 

From the studied sample, it is found that 66.66 per cent of the households have used remittance for various investment purposes. Among these households, three kinds of investment are visible, e.g., agriculture, business and home construction and extension for rent. The following table illustrates the portion of households who have invested remittance for these purposes. 

Approximately, 22.22 per cent of the households have invested in agriculture purposes like irrigation schemes, crop cultivation and trading in agricultural items, cultivate fish in the pond, small poultry and dairy farm and livestock in their purchased land. For example, one of the migrant’s households started a poultry farm in its land. In the first year, the household earned a handsome profit. In the second year, they bought additional land and expanded the poultry. Currently, they have three employees working on the farm. 

On the other hand, construction, repair and extension of the house for rent consist of 16.67 per cent of the households’ investment. Of these households, some rented shops on the ground floor of their houses. One of the migrants’ wives stated, 

“When my husband went abroad in 2010, we lived in a tin-roofed house. From his remittance, we were able to purchase a homestead land in 2015 and in 2018 we successfully built a two-storey house in that land. Currently, we are receiving handsome rent from the house.” 

Moreover, 27.78 per cent of the households have invested in business ventures, e.g., opening top-up card outlets, cloth and stationery shop, tailoring shop and restaurant, etc. From the studied sample, 11.11 per cent of the migrants during vacation came to Bangladesh with improved financial, human and physical resources and invested these resources in business ventures. Households’ whose members are staying abroad for more than eight years preferred to invest in business ventures. For example, the migrant who works as a chief cook in a restaurant in Malaysia set up a restaurant. After his return, his oldest and youngest brothers are managing the restaurant now. In another case, the migrant who was employed in a handloom factory purchased a piece of land in the nearby market place. Later, he built some tin-shed shops there. In one of the shops, he opened a tailoring shop and rest of the shops were rented. When he went back, his wife along with her sister-in-law now manages the shop. From these productive ventures, two households are making good financial returns. Hence, migration creates opportunities to accumulate financial resources, builds capacities through new ideas and knowledge which in turn enlarges the choices of migrants to invest those financial, physical and human resources in different productive ventures.  

By creating opportunities, building capacities and enlarging choices migration with the accumulation of four types of resources create a virtuous circle54 where one resource reinforces other resources and ensures development at the micro-level. But the range of human development depends on the duration of migrant’s staying abroad. Consequently, all the migrants’ households are not progressing in the same way and at the same pace. The paper examines the linkage between migration and development following the flow chart in figure 4.  

54 The term virtuous circle refers to complex chains of events that reinforce themselves through a positive

feedback loop. 

The flow chart shows the impact of the financial resource through migration on human, natural and manufactured resources. For example, international labour migration certainly creates opportunities for households to multiple financial resources. Once received, these financial resources, in case of human resources, build the capacities and enlarge the choices of the households to increase its expenditure in health and education, in case of natural resources to have additional land ownership, e.g., agricultural and homestead and in case of manufactured resource to invest in productive ventures, e.g., established small scale enterprise at local level, agricultural production and home construction and extension for rental purpose. Again, these enlarging choices of the households to invest in land, health and education, construction of house and business certainly maximized the financial resources of the households. Hence, in this paper, enlarging opportunities, capabilities and choices of the households through migration considers as both the primary end objective and the principal means of development; financial resources are merely the means to this end.