Migrants taking care of the people back home ...

The NY Times is running an interesting article on why the more successful countries need to keep an open minds and hearts about foreign migrants and what they are about ... THE money flows in dribs and drabs, crossing borders $200 or $300 at a time. It buys cornmeal and rice and plaid private school skirts and keeps the landlord at bay.

Globally, the tally is huge: migrants from poor countries send home about $300 billion a year.

That is more than three times the global total in foreign aid, making “remittances” the main source of outside money flowing to the developing world.

Not only that, Surveys show that 80 percent of the money or more is immediately spent, on food, clothing, housing, education or the occasional beer party or television set. Still, there are tens of billions available for savings or investment, in places where capital is scarce. While remittances have been shown to reduce household poverty, policymakers are looking to increase the effect on economic growth.

Some migrants, for instance, send home money to savings accounts at small bank-like microfinance institutions, which use the resulting capital pool to lend to local entrepreneurs.