This thesis explores three important factors that have been central to the pursuit of economic development in developing countries, particularly those in Africa. These are capital flows, economic integration and financial crises. Chapter 1 examines the causes and consequences of capital flight in African countries. Building on standard portfolio choice model, the study links the phenomenon of capital flight to the domestic investment climate (broadly defined) and shows that African agents move their portfolios abroad as a result of a deteriorating domestic investment climate where the risk-adjusted rate of return is unfavourable. The results presented suggest that economic risk, policy distortions and the poor profitability of African investments explain the variation in capital flight. In addition, employing a PVAR and its corresponding impulse responses, the chapter shows that capital flight shocks worsen economic performance. Chapter 2 explores the (independent) effects of crises and openness on a large sample of African countries using dynamic panel techniques. Focusing on sudden stops, currency, twin and sovereign debt crises, the chapter shows that economic crises are associated with growth collapses in Africa. In contrast, economic openness is found to be beneficial to growth. More importantly, we find that, consistent with standard Mundell-Flemming type models and sticky-price open economy models, greater openness to trade and financial flows mitigates the adverse effects of crises. In the final chapter, we examine whether capital flows such as FDI, foreign aid and migrant remittances crowd-in or crowd-out domestic investment in developing countries. Applying recently developed panel cointegration techniques which can handle cross-sectional heterogeneity, serial correlation and endogeneity, we find that FDI and remittances have a positive and significant effect on domestic investment in the long-run while aid tends to act as a substitute for investment. We also conduct panel Granger causality analysis and find that the effect of FDI on investment is both transitory as well as permanent. That is, it tends to crowd-in domestic investment both in the short-run and in the long-run. We do not find any causal links between foreign aid and investment. The results show that, while remittances do not have causal effects on investment in the short-run, there is a bidirectional (causal) relationship between the two in the long-run.

This thesis focuses on gender and scale as key aspects of the rural-to-urban migration process in China. Its specific aim is to connect economic and social reasons for rural women's migration towards urban factory work. Contemporary large-scale migration studies show inconsistencies and contradictions concerning reasons for migration, especially as it relates to gender. Thus, migration research often emphasizes the positive social changes experienced by women workers, in effect signaling that the most important needs of women migrants can be satisfied without economic gains. In contrast, the proposed study seeks to show that social and economic reasons intertwine within women's experiences of and explanations for their migration. The theoretical framework for the proposed study is based on postmodern understandings of gender, economy, and society. Data for the study was acquired through qualitative techniques, specifically through interviews with workers. The findings of this study supported the thesis that both economic and social factors informed women's decision to become migrants. In addition, this study revealed specific experiences of women workers related to migration. Thus, women decided to become migrants largely because their education allowed them to gain employment in urban areas and ability to gain independent income. Although social networks played a large role in the recruitment of rural women workers, they were not necessary to find employment. Experiences of v vi factory work reveal that the relationship between women and their employers are less restrictive than expected. In addition, rural women's experiences of being migrants in the city, although constrained by timings of factory work, encompass both material and social forms of consumption. Overall, migration outcomes reflected changing social status of women in the rural areas. Thus, this research approaches migration as a dynamic process. Embedded in this process are fluid identities of migrant women workers. Through questioning the meanings of 'social' and 'economic' migration, this research adds to existing studies on gender and migration in China and contextualizes the value of women workers to China's economy. Alongside, the study moves away from shop floor politics to the wider space outside the factory, thus linking urban and rural contexts. In a broader sense, this research aims to inform theories related to the economics and politics of migration through adding a spatial component to social understandings of the gendered migration process.

This dissertation examines the effects of migration and remittances on family members left behind in sending areas. It consists of a systematic review of the literature on the effects of remittances on recipients’ health and empirical analyses that examine the effects of migration and remittances on medical spending and women’s empowerment. In 2019, 270 million international migrants sent over $530 billion dollars in remittances to their home countries. This project advances the literature on the effects of these processes. The empirical analyses use panel and cross-sectional survey data from the 2013 and 2018 waves of the Kerala Migration Survey, a large-scale longitudinal survey conducted in Kerala, India that followed the families of thousands of migrants from 1998 to 2018. The panel analyses used logistic and linear fixed-effects models, and the cross-sectional analyses used factor analysis, linear regression, and two-step Heckman selection models to assess the effects of migration and remittances on medical spending and women’s empowerment. The review found that migration and remittances play an important role in shaping health among individuals in transnational families. Remittances had the most pronounced benefits in areas with limited resources and social protections. They improved health by enabling households to pay for healthy food, medical treatment, and housing, and they improved mental health by easing financial constraints. Remittances were less beneficial in areas with strong safety nets, support systems, and community ties because family members were not dependent on remittances to provide basic needs. Migration and remittances shaped medical spending. Panel and cross-sectional analyses found that migrant households spent more money on medical expenses compared to non-migrant households. The panel analysis found that, compared to non-migrant households, households that received low levels of remittances spent less on medical care and households that received high levels of remittances spent a greater amount of money on medical care. After adjusting for health status and covariates, the cross-sectional analysis found positive and linear relationships between remittances and amount of medical spending. Although out-of-pocket costs of medical care in India can be high and although remittances are often used to maintain and increase social status, remittances were positively associated with increased medical spending in transnational families. Migration and remittances also influenced dimensions of women’s empowerment. They increased women’s management of household responsibilities, including decision-making and income control. However, migration decreased women’s internalized social status and neither migration nor remittances had meaningful effects on spousal attitudes. These findings suggest that women in migrant households may have taken on more household responsibilities, but their social status did not improve. This dissertation’s results suggest that migration and remittances influence health outcomes, certain dimensions of women’s empowerment, and ability to pay for to medical care in Kerala and other settings. However, their effects vary by context and indicators used to measure outcomes. Programs and policies should maximize the benefits of migration and remittances while reducing their associated harms.

Le point de départ de cette thèse est le constat que dans les systèmes de santé post-soviétiques les paiements informels aux professionnels de santé perdurent bien au-delà de la transition post-socialiste, et ce malgré les vagues de réforme successives du système de santé.Dans le même temps depuis l'indépendance de la République du Tadjikistan, une défiance profonde envers certains professionnels de santé s'est développée et le renoncement aux soins s'est accru, touchant plus particulièrement les populations vulnérables. Quel rôle jouent alors les différentes pratiques de rémunération informelle ? Sont-elles source de défiance ou un moyen de restaurer la confiance ? Les paiements informels sont-ils ajustés au niveau de vie des patients ou source d'inégalités entre patients ?D'après les indicateurs d'équité mobilisés et contrairement aux idées reçues, les paiements informels ne permettent pas de rendre le système progressif et de garantir l'accès à tous. Les populations les plus démunies cumulent plus de renoncement aux soins.Face à ces barrières à l'accès aux soins, différentes stratégies sont mises en place par les ménages : solidarités informelles, endettement, recours à la médecine traditionnelle, mobilisation de son capital social.On étudie alors, plus précisément, dans quelle mesure la migration, phénomène massif au Tadjikistan, fait partie de ces stratégies et dans quelle mesure les remises de fonds permettent aux ménages bénéficiaires d'améliorer leur accès aux soins. / This dissertation begins with the observation that informal payments to healthcare professionals in post-soviet health systems persisted well beyond the post-socialist transition and despite the successive waves of health care reform.During this transition period, since the independence of the Republic of Tajikistan, there has been a deterioration of trust towards certain health professionals which has been associated with increased forgone care, especially among vulnerable populations. What is the role played by the different informal payment practices? Are they a source of mistrust or a means of restoring trust? Are informal payments adjusted to patients' standard of living or a source of inequality between patients?According to the equity indicators mobilized and contrary to popular belief, informal payments do not make the system progressive and do not guarantee that there will be access for all. The poorest are more likely to forgo care.To cope with these barriers in accessing care, different strategies are put in place by households: informal solidarity, indebtedness, reliance on traditional medicine, mobilization of social capital.More specifically, we then study if migration, a relatively important phenomenon in Tajikistan, is part of these strategies and to what extent remittances enable beneficiary households to improve their access to healthcare.

This thesis focuses on the phenomenon of remittances (money or products sent by migrants to their countries of origin) and their relation to current development discourse. The volumes of remittances are still growing and this revenue has become especially significant for developing countries. This thesis, therefore, does not only focus on the economic contribution of remittances but analyses them in a broader context. Its aim is to find whether and how do remittances contribute to the overall development of poor countries. This thesis offers a historical overview of developmental discourse and followed by specification of four key concepts of current development (empowerment, ownership, good governance and sustainable development), whereby this thesis constitutes a framework for further analysis. Remittances are substantially connected to the concepts of empowerment and ownership. They enable the recipients to meet their needs more freely and decide how to invest their money. From the point of views of good government concept, it is important, that remittances can help to put more pressure on the democratization of developing countries. Fulfilment of these concepts, as well as the stability of remittances, implies, that this revenue supports sustainable development in poor countries. This thesis is...

Foreign capital inflows (FCI) play an important role in the economic development of the recipient country as they fund investments and promote growth. However, the size and composition of such inflows are determined on the basis of country specific requirements. The study investigates the impact of capital inflows on the economy of Kenya at a time when the government implemented economic reform measures to stabilize the economy and restore sustainable growth. More specifically, the study examines the impact of foreign capital flows remittances such as overseas workers remittance, official development aid, and external debt, on selected macro-economic variables using monthly time series data and a single-equation empirical approach. The study findings reveal that some forms of FCI are not influenced by the macro economic variables in the country but by other factors such as political stability and policy variables.

In the field of migration and development the economic impact of remittances is emphasized more often. The thesis examines remittances regarding social aspects as an important part of migration and development. The main aim is to understand the process of transfer of social remittances between Vietnamese living in the Czech Republic and their family members living in Vietnam. The important theoretical background of this thesis is the concept of social remittances. The process of transferring social remittances is scrutinized through semi- structured in-depth interviews with Vietnamese migrants and their family members in Vietnam. The paper describes the social remittances that are generated by transnational Vietnamese migrants in the Czech Republic and under what conditions the remittances were or were not accepted by their family members in Vietnam. The work uses a qualitative approach for data analysis that allows an insight into the lives of examined individuals. The results reflect the perspective of migrants and their family members. It is apparent that the context of migrants and their personal characteristics and skills - language abilities, length of stay in the destination country, extent of financial stability and level of education - plays an important role in the process of...

This thesis investigates the perceptions of female migrant household workers situated in Saudi Arabia and how remittances can be a sustainable livelihood for them and their households. There has been limited research surrounding female household workers' own perceptions of sustainable livelihoods and particularly of those situated in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, this thesis aims to fill a research gap surrounding both Saudi Arabia and female household workers perceptions. The research is focused on understanding livelihood outcomes for these women’s households and what assets are important to maintain and enhance remittances as a livelihood strategy. The study is a case study that was conducted by semi-structured face-to-face interviews involving 18 female household workers from Africa and Asia. Furthermore, the study was highly influenced by the Sustainable livelihood framework and the findings suggested that remittances have a positive impact on livelihood outcomes in terms of intangible and tangible well-being. The study also explores the complex dynamics of remittances and assets whereas the findings regarding assets suggest that different capitals and assets have been highly important in maintaining and enhancing both each other and the option to use remittances as a livelihood strategy. Lastly, the perceptions of the interviewed women fall under the criteria of what a sustainable livelihood should entail and the findings further highlight knowledge brought by theories from the Sustainable livelihood approach and New Economics of Labor Migration.

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This study investigates the Somalian diaspora in Denmark, contributing to existingliterature on diaspora humanitarianism with a Danish-Somalian perspective. It furtherenhances an understanding of how the diaspora navigates a Somalian social support systemand introduces an understudied theoretical framework combining hope, mobility anddiaspora. The aim of the study is to understand how and why the Somalian diaspora inDenmark engages in humanitarian work in Somalia. Through interviews and an analyticalframework of collective memories and hope, it explores the practices and culturalunderstandings within the Danish-Somalian diaspora, related to their humanitarian actionsin Somalia. The humanitarian actions are provided through (social) remittances distributedthrough informal systems of kinship and clan, with a focus of helping fellow Somalians.The findings indicate that a strong connection and sense of moral obligation to Somalia,along with hope for Somalia’s future and the possibility of a return, drive the diasporashumanitarian efforts.