Outsourcing Welfare provides an analysis of the patterns and impacts of remittance funds: money that international migrants send to family members in their countries of origin. This book is pertinent and timely in the context of growing international migration and the subsequent remittances being transferred across the globe. Remittances have a profoundly positive impact on recipient families, communities, and nations. Roy Germano offers a novel contribution to the existing dialogue on remittances by considering these funds not only as a means of improving economic well-being but also as a source of social welfare that strengthens social and political stability in recipient nations. Outsourcing Welfare is a valuable resource for educators, students, and laypersons interested in migration, economics, and political science.
Germano is an expert on financial remittances and immigration policy and has conducted extensive research in Mexico and Central America. His expertise is visible via contributions to academic literature, in addition to national and international media. This most recent work encourages us to understand the political impact of financial remittances across the globe.
Readers are first introduced to global remittance figures that detail the amounts sent to top recipient countries, including the percentage of each country’s gross domestic product (GDP) that is received in remittances. This information helps to illustrate the international relevance of remittances as a vital source of income to many nations. Germano draws from his own field research to present Mexico as a case study. Local and international policies, including the North American Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and local neoliberal policies, are identified as factors that facilitate Mexicans’ reliance on remittances as “transnational safety nets.” Through individual stories collected via research, the importance of remittances is underscored for livelihood and well-being in Mexico.
Germano then presents compelling data that emphasize the role of remittances at the political level. Again, leveraging findings from his own research, in addition to his analysis of existing data, he makes a convincing argument about remittances’ ability to mitigate social and political unrest in four regions: Africa, the Middle East, the Caribbean, and Latin America. Germano demonstrates how remittance funds “perform a stabilizing function” that reduces both the burden of financial distress and feelings of resentment toward governmental policies that fail to buffer the hardships endured during economic downturns. Families residing in countries that lack a federal social welfare system might be unable to meet basic needs during periods of financial hardship without the safety net of remittance funds. Through his research, Germano further demonstrates a relationship between the receipt of remittances and more positive perceptions about governments and their policies, even during periods of national economic hardship. One concern, which Germano delineates in the book, is that recipients’ increased satisfaction with government can result in reduced interest in advocating for new national leadership that would better support people during hard times.
Germano’s material highlights the actions that families take through international migration and remittances to provide for their own social welfare and ensure protection against financial distress. The lens to remittances that Outsourcing Welfare provides is beneficial not only for understanding migration from an individual economic protection level, but also for considering the effects on national safety and security for recipient nations. This conversation is vital to the broader academic and political remittance dialogue. Ultimately, this book is a must-read for anyone who wishes to understand better the trends and complexities of remittance receipt for individuals, communities, and nations.
