Migration and development: an update on global trends

The relationship between migration and economic and social progress in both places of origin and destination has been a highly contested subject in the scholarly and political literatures. I review these alternative positions for both low-skilled labour migrants and high-skilled professionals. The concept of ‘transnationalism’ has provided useful leverage in the study of the highly dynamic relationships between localities and countries of origin and of destination. The case of refugees is given special attention given the paradox of militant opposition to such flows in countries of reception and the contributions—economic and cultural—that these flows have made to the countries. A series of diagrams summarize the principal relationships discussed in the text. Overall, international movements of population can have positive effects for both places of origin and of destination, provided that they are allowed to proceed with relative freedom by sending and host states.