Remitting Desire: Trans-Pacific Migration, Returns and Imaginaries in Vietnam
Small, Ivan V. | July 2019
Abstract
The catalyst for capitalist growth in Vietnam—often dubbed Asia’s next Tiger economy1—is frequently ascribed to market reforms starting in 1986 and subsequent foreign investment flows. But diaspora capital sent from abroad has also contributed significantly to Vietnam’s economic growth over the last 30 years. Many of Vietnam’s so-called “overseas Vietnamese” left as refugees and migrants after the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. International remittances to Vietnam are estimated at around USD 15 billion annually,2 making it one of the top ten destinations in the world for money sent by diaspora populations back to home communities in the Global South. About 7-8 percent of households in Vietnam receive remittances from abroad.3 International remittance flows are higher than overseas development assistance to Vietnam, of which Vietnam is also a top ten recipient.
This article examines developments in Vietnam’s remittance sector, including how they are being framed and embedded by new monetary policies, technologies, banking and finance trends, and consumer patterns that both enhance and complicate cross-border mobility. The material is drawn in part from my book, Currencies of Imagination: Channeling Money and Chasing Mobility in Vietnam (Cornell University Press 2018).
Citation
Small, Ivan V.. 2019. Remitting Desire: Trans-Pacific Migration, Returns and Imaginaries in Vietnam. © ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute. http://hdl.handle.net/11540/10941.Keywords
Cash transfer
Urban Development Finance
Trade Finance
Small Business Finance
Rural Finance
Roundtable on International Trade and Finance
Regional Development Finance
Public Service Finance
Public Finance
Project Finance
Private Finance
Nonbank Financing
Non-Bank Financial Institutions
Municipal Finance
Local Government Finance
Local Currency Financing
Limited Resource Financing
International Financial Institutions
Infrastructure Financing
Industrial Finance
Government Financial Institutions
Government Finance
Financing of Infrastructure
Financial Sector Development
Financial Regulation
Immigration
Trade in services
Services sector
GATS (General Agreement for Trade in Services)
Market access
Guest workers
Work permission
Visas
Migration
Rural Urban Migration
Taxation
Public Accounting
National Budget
Municipal Bonds
Local Government
Local Taxes
International Monetary Relations
International Financial Market
International Banking
Central Banks
Business Financing
Capital Resources
Budgetary Policy
Capital Needs
Corporate Divestiture
Capital Instruments
Pension Funds
Insurance Companies
Banks
Portfolio Management
Development Indicators
Environmental Indicators
Economic Indicators
Educational Indicators
Demographic Indicators
Health Indicators
Disadvantaged Groups
Low Income Groups
Socially Disadvantaged Children
Rural Conditions
Rural Development
Social Conditions
Grants
Loans
Use tax
Taxing power
State of taxation
Tax-sales
Tax revenue estimating
Tax planning
Spendings tax
Special assessments
Tax administration and procedure
Sales tax
Real property and taxation
Progressive taxation
Effect of taxation on land use
Effect of taxation on labor supply
Intergovernmental tax relations
Inheritance and transfer tax
Energy tax
Investment of public funds
Intergovernmental fiscal relations
Social infrastructure
Public works
Government lending
Poor
Economic forecasting
Health expectancy
Social groups
Political
Distribution of income
Inequality of income participation
Distribution of income
Inequality of income
Developing countries
Rural community development
Mass society
Social change
Social policy
Social stability
Population
Sustainable development
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