Diaspora Networks, Non-Economic Remittances and Entrepreneurship Development: Evidence from Some Economies in Latin America

Abstract

Diaspora networks' non-economic remittances in the forms of social, political, cultural and technical contributions to their homeland play important roles in entrepreneurship and economic development. In this paper, we examine the effects of such remittances on entrepreneurship development in economies in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). We analyze how factors such as migrants' skills and education and characteristics of the host country are likely to affect non-economic remittances and their contribution to entrepreneurship and economic development. We offer some examples of initiatives taken in the home country and the host country to maximize the potential non-economic remittances and their impacts on entrepreneurship development in the home country. A key lesson and take-away that we can gain from entrepreneurially successful efforts of some economies is that the primary focus of diaspora policies need to be centered on utilizing various forms of non-economic remittances in stimulating the quantity and quality of entrepreneurial activity