Many African migrants residing abroad nurture a hope to one day return, at least temporarily, to their home country. In the wake of economic crises in the developed world, alongside rapid economic growth in parts of Africa, the impetus to 'return' is likely to increase. Such returnees are often portrayed as agents of development, bringing with them capital, knowled...

Many African migrants residing abroad nurture a hope to one day return, at least temporarily, to their home country. In the wake of economic crises in the developed world, alongside rapid economic growth in parts of Africa, the impetus to 'return' is likely to increase. Such returnees are often portrayed as agents of development, bringing with them capital, knowled...

The case of Cape Verde shows that the relationship between remittances and inequality in migrant-sending countries depends on a number of factors. The situation is thus more complicatedthan the dominant pessimistic view of the 1970s and 1980s or today’s “development optimism” discourse. Among the factors are changes over time in the selectivity of migrants, variati...