An estimated 281 million migrants span the globe. The remittances they ship house get a whole lot of consideration from policymakers and growth businesses just like the World Bank because of their positive impacts on creating economies. This is as a result of the motion of cash is – for probably the most half – quantifiable, as a lot of it goes via formal banking channels. Migrants from creating nations, as an example, sent about US$605 billion house in 2021.
But there’s additionally a whole ecosystem that’s not measured and never monitored: gift-giving.
Many migrants bring gifts from abroad for his or her relations when returning to their house nation. We examined this follow in a study of Ghanaian migrants dwelling in Australia and the US in addition to folks in Ghana who’ve relations dwelling abroad.
Gift-giving is frequent amongst migrants from different nations within the world south too.
We discovered that when migrants return to Ghana many bring shopper items of their suitcases as gifts for his or her relations. Migrants really feel obliged to bring these gifts as a result of their household and associates in Ghana anticipate them. Migrants concern a social backlash in the event that they fail to bring them.
One main implication of our findings is that these gifts could do the alternative of what remittances do. As imports, they could have unintended destructive penalties for the native economic system.
What gifts do migrants bring and why?
We interviewed 47 Ghanaian migrants dwelling in Australia and the US in addition to folks in Ghana who’ve relations dwelling abroad. Some migrants additionally allowed us to do a “video ethnography” of their suitcases filled with gifts simply days earlier than they went to go to Ghana. We took movies and images of the gifts as they defined every reward merchandise, who they had been going to provide the reward to, and why.
In the suitcases of people travelling from Australia and the US back to Ghana we discovered an array of gifts, together with garments, footwear, baggage, perfumes, make-up, equipment, telephones, computer systems, meals objects and medication.
The most typical rationalization for bringing these gifts is that it’s an obligation. Gifts go to prolonged household, associates, associates of the household, and even “big people” from whom migrants will need assistance to ease the transition again house.
We had been informed that household and associates again house anticipated – and generally even demanded – these gifts.
One migrant within the US famous:
I can’t simply return house (to Ghana) with out shopping for something for them; will probably be suicidal on my half, as a result of the seems I’m going to get and possibly the utterances, I wouldn’t even prefer it. So, I don’t have a selection; I’ve to.
Our members who lived in Ghana confirmed that that they had these expectations. One of them commented:
You can’t come identical to that (empty-handed) when you’re coming house (to Ghana) from abroad. You have travelled to the white man’s land so you could bring one thing house from there.
The obligation to bring gifts is well-known and understood.
Two associated beliefs account for this obligation.
The first is that life abroad is healthier than in Ghana. The migrant is perceived to be economically higher off than somebody dwelling in Ghana. Other analysis has additionally discovered that migrants enjoy higher status in Ghana. Thus, they’re believed to have the ability to afford gifts.
The second perception is that issues from abroad are of higher high quality than issues made in or imported into Ghana. Thus, the visiting migrant is a trusted service of fine high quality merchandise from abroad.
Even when they’re unable to go to Ghana themselves, migrants continuously ship gifts for household and associates through different migrants who’re visiting Ghana.
Taken collectively, these beliefs confer an obligation to bring gifts. Some migrants we interviewed embraced this obligation as a solution to help and delight their households. For others, the gifts had been a solution to present gratitude to individuals who had contributed to their upbringing and their capability emigrate abroad.
All migrants, nonetheless, admitted the concern of social backlash in the event that they did not bring the gifts.
The penalties of the gifts
We conclude that this reward giving has wider implications.
Firstly, we argue that it performs a distinct function than remittances. When migrants ship financial remittances, they take cash from the developed nation and ship it to assist growth again house. Gifts do the alternative – the cash to amass them is spent within the developed economic system. Then, they journey to Ghana as “hidden imports” which are neither taxed, nor accounted for.
The gifts additionally encourage the idea that what’s from abroad – particularly from the “white man’s country” – is healthier than what’s made domestically. This reinforces the will for international issues and a want emigrate to those international nations.
The implications should not optimistic for migrants’ house economies.
Taming the shrew
Attempts to manage migrant gifting practices can be troublesome and counterproductive, nonetheless.
They have necessary social implications for the connection between migrants and their households. Customs laws on reward objects past a sure worth might be simply evaded by presenting them as private objects and never gifts.
Rather, we must always settle for these practices and encourage migrants to report the worth of gifts with out taxation or punishment. This info might assist coverage makers to account for the gifts as imports, and to design insurance policies that tackle the impact on the native economic system.
Samuelson Appau, Assistant Professor, Melbourne Business School and David Crockett, Associate Professor of Marketing, University of Illinois at Chicago
This article is republished from The Conversation below a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
