Money Service Businesses provide people and institutions with a way to send money (remit) from one place to another. This service is most often associated with migrants, who typically wish to send money or value home. Remittances can be sent both on a domestic and on a cross-border basis. The methods used to remit money or value can be used for both legitimate and illegal purposes. The question posed by this research is whether the Money Service Businesses that operate in South Africa and provide crossborder remittance services are adequately regulated, to ensure that it is not used for the purposes of money laundering and/or terror financing. Copyright / Dissertation (MPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Accounting / unrestricted

The function of the construction industry in an economy has proven to be beneficial, especially during the economic downturn. The nature of the products of the construction industry makes it possible for the government to utilise the industry as a means to accelerate and multiply the economy by utilising the fiscal budget to build infrastructures. By so doing, the economy will be multiplied as the construction industry is an industry that produces investment goods. However, due to the nature of the Malaysian construction sector, the expenses required to stimulate the economy could not be made to the maximum extent, as the industry relies heavily on immigrant construction workers to address its labour supply problem. Immigrant construction workers are known for their high tendency to remit their salary to their country of their origin. This scenario disturbs the economic cycle within the Malaysian economy and, hence, dampens the function of the construction industry as the multiplier-accelerator provider. This research was undertaken to better manage the cash flow economic cycle leakage by adopting some economic measures coupled with improvised management of immigrant construction workers exercised through legislation. The adopted research methodology used transformative mixed-methods to balance the limitations of a single research approach. A literature review of the economic models and tools were conducted in a search for the most suitable measures, while attempting to understand the nature of construction industry by highlighting the structure and the problems associated with the industry. Special attention was also given to investigate the motivation behind the human migration to justify and support the research. Other than issues involving the use of immigrant workers, special attention was given to issues of remittances and its impacts on the global economy. The findings underpinned by literature and the research findings were used to develop the conceptual framework to manage the economic cycle leakage that is entrenched in the construction industry s economic cycle. The integrated framework consists of economic, management and legislation and was developed to address the issues highlighted. The use of economic tools can only be materialised through better management and the execution of legislation. The framework was encapsulated in a combination of process protocol and a maturity framework to allow time for the policy makers to implement it. Considerations have been made to develop the framework to ensure the smooth transition its implementation. The framework was self-validated through formative evaluations where data were attained from several parties to reduce any bias perspective. In addition, most of the measures suggested were derived from interviews conducted among the respondents. Several benefits of the framework were identified. It is concluded that the impact of immigrant construction workers employment can be managed by considering the appropriate tools in the form of economic, managerial and legislation measures. This research has developed an integrated process protocol maturity framework that addresses the three aforementioned aspects. The framework is simple and easily understandable with detailed activity zones that entail specific tasks that must implemented by different parties. The developed framework is expected to aid the authorities in managing immigrant construction in Malaysia and to effectively manage these workers. The framework also allows time for its implementation through the maturity stages suggested.

Using a randomized experiment in rural Malawi, this paper finds that providing information on mobile bank buses’ services leads to a higher probability of adopting savings accounts in the treatment group. Households in the treated villages are 3.06 percentage points more likely to adopt savings accounts than households in the control group. Second, the information treatment leads to an increase of in the probability of households receiving remittances in the treated villages, as well as an increase in the amount of remittances received. In particular, the effect is strongest for households that lived at least three kilometers away from the trade centers, which suggests that the main cost of transferring remittance is the cost of traveling to a bank. Third, the 2SLS regression provides suggestive evidence that adopting savings accounts leads to an increase in households’ remittance activities. The 63.3 percentage points increase in the possibility of households receiving remittances after adopting savings accounts suggests that there previously exist high costs associated with the informal channels of transferring remittances.

The remittances or money transfers sent by migrants to the country of origin are considered to be one of the welfare channels with potential to influence macroeconomics indicators. The aim of this thesis is to analyse migration and remittance behaviour of Ukrainian migrants in the context of the EU. Study is based on the questionnaire survey inspired by the similar projects in the Latin America and Mexico. Contribution of the thesis lies in the detailed analysis of the topic that separates different forms of remittances. The econometric model consists of statistical summary of the data and three hypotheses tests focusing on the probability and amount remitted; consumption behaviour and probability of getting skilled position. According to findings, probability and amount remitted is determined by demographic factors and direction of effects differs in the case of regularly and one- time payments. Altruism and business financing are primary motives to remit. Remittances appear to be transferred by informal channels into the productive forms of consumption. A procurement of skilled position is positively influenced by human capital factors but also reflects labour market situation in the destination country. JEL Classification C31,C35,C51,C52, C83, E21, E27, F24, F22, J15, J24, J61, Y10 Keywords...

The purpose of this paper is to examine the banking industry of Nepal from 2005 to 2010 to track the causes of banking crisis of 2011 using theories of macro-economics and finance as a conceptual starting point. In 2011, several commercial and development banks faced severe liquidity crisis that caused panic in the general public. Banks lost large amount of money in their loan and investment portfolios, which compelled the Government of Nepal to inject liquidity in the market. In the recent past years leading to the banking crisis of 2011, there was rapid change in the size and activity of banking industry. This paper analyzes changes that occurred in the financial market in the period of 2005 to 2010 that triggered the banking crisis. The roles of remittance, credit expansion and asset bubble have been analyzed in terms of their connection to the liquidity crisis.

Economic remittances are money transfers worldwide from migrants to their country of origin. This study aimed to examine which significance the remittance has for the sender. How do the senders describe their experiences of remittances, what strategies are used in the process of remitting and how has the migrants’ social and economic situation in the host country been affected by remitting? The issues were answered through six semi-structured interviews with remitting migrants. The theoretical approach consisted of the concepts transnational social space, reciprocity and social exclusion. The findings were that remittances had great value to the senders with both negative and positive outcomes. Strategies formed to live up to expectations to remit were group wise, long-term and practical. Remittances had an impact on choices regarding recreational activities, housing and employment. Our conclusion is that remitting is an important act to maintain the bond to the country of origin, despite economic and social sacrifices. Being a participant in dual social worlds in which social and economic conditions differ shapes the experienced requirement to remitt.  Remittance cannot be seen as a sole factor for placing senders in social exclusion, though it can limit the sender economically and socially.

This thesis deals indirectly with the current crisis in Yemen by focusing on a period in the Yemen Arab Republic’s (YAR) history from the increased price of oil in 1973 to the outbreak of the Gulf war in 1990. I present the YAR during this period as a case study in labor exportation through which the state was made more vulnerable and was left unable to cope with the collapse of its remittance system. Labor emigration and remittance receipt prior to the Gulf war, in addition to fueling bureaucratic corruption in the YAR, enabled destructive change within the agricultural sector, inflation, national import dependency, and unsustainable urbanization – these structural weaknesses were temporarily masked by Yemen’s labor exportation and by a sustained flow of remittance funding. In 1990 expatriate worker remittances collapsed abruptly as a source of capital, with over a million Yemenis suddenly repatriated. The cases of Mexican and Filipino national labor emigration illuminate the absence of diversity in Yemenis’ immigration destination and the absence of any central orchestration on behalf of the state, in addition to the inability of remittance money to remain within local communities. The period of labor exportation left Yemen with structural fragilities that continue to be the core conditions gripping what today resembles a failed state. Currently Yemen is home to a complex network of actors in violent competition for central authority – yet any government that comes to exist in Yemen must ultimately consider the YAR’s experience with labor exportation from the early 1970s through 1990 as a basis from which to fully understand the underlying weaknesses of the state.

There exists much controversy as to whether international migration in general, and migrant's remittances in particular, increase or decrease economic welfare at origin. Our research contributes to the international discussion on remittances by presenting novel insights on the basis of theoretical and empirical analysis. Analysis of remittances from macro-economic as well as micro-economic point of view reveals that remittances not only have growth enhancing effect but also have an equalizing impact on income distribution of the recipient economy. The first chapter shows how large flows of remittances not only help the receiver to accumulate necessary savings but also reduce the critical level of wealth needed to get access to the capital market to instigate entrepreneurship. The second chapter reveals that the measured impact of remittances on business investment have significant country heterogeneity; remittances facilitate entrepreneurship in those countries where the lenders of the capital market can predict smooth and increasing flow of remittances. The third chapter proposes that remittances work better than aid in enhancing growth of the recipient country and the reason is that remittances are more effective than aid in augmenting capital accumulation.

Using remittances as a topical background, this project addresses the following questions: 1 how remittances arise out of a translocal relationship — that is, real movements of people, commodities, ideas, and symbols — and cross spatial distances and borders with a certain regularity; 2 how these remittances create arenas in which the processes of territorialization, deterritorialization, and reterritorialization take place and are negotiated; and 3 whether transnational economic spaces emerge out of these negotiations as a spatial format.

Uppsatsen handlar om ansökan av bygglov i Malmö stad som tagits på remiss av miljöförvaltningen. Efter att ha fått en lista över förslag på uppsatsämnen av Malmö stad, bestämde vi oss för att studera ämnet ”bygglov” mer. De två centrala frågeställningarna är 1. Vad händer med de bygglov som Miljöförvaltningen på Malmö stad har avstyrkt? Har de ändå blivit beviljade, och på vilka grunder? 2. Identifieras miljöaspekter i bygglovsansökningar i samma grad och utsträckning oavsett om det är stadsbyggnadskontoret eller miljöförvaltningen som gör bedömningen? Bygglovsansökningar som blivit behandlade av Miljöförvaltningen på Malmö stad under åren 2015–2017 utvärderades. Vi genomförde intervjuer med handläggare på miljöförvaltningen och stadsbyggnadskontoret, samt en dokumentgranskning av de beslut som tagits på remiss av miljöförvaltningen. Analysen visar att bygglov som tagits på remiss av miljöförvaltningen och fått avstyrkan, ändå blivit beviljade av stadsbyggnadskontoret samt att stadsbyggnadskontoret inte lägger någon större vikt vid miljöförvaltningens yttrande så länge det inte innebär en risk för människors liv eller hälsa. Nyckelord: bygglov, miljöförvaltningen, Malmö stad, miljöaspekter, remiss / This essay is about building permits in Malmö city, which has been referred to by the Environmental Office in the city of Malmö. The two key issues are: 1. What happens to the building permits that the Environmental Office in Malmö city has suppressed? Have they still been granted, and for what reasons? 2. Is environmental aspects identified in building permits in the same degree and extent, regardless of whether it is the City Building Office or Environmental Office who make the assessment? The purpose is to assess building permit applications that have been processed by the Environmental Office in Malmö city in 2015-2017. To answer the questions, we conducted interviews with staff at the Environmental Office and City Building Office and also a document review of the decisions taken on Environmental Office. The paper concludes that the building permits issued by the Environmental Office have been granted permission by the city building office, and that the City Building Office does not make a major assessment in the Environmental Offices opinion if it does not endanger human life or health.