26. The migration–development nexus under scrutiny Raúl Delgado Wise THE THEORETICAL BATTLEFRONT In the realm of the economic restructuring and labor precarization processes, i.e. the decline of wages, part-time or temporary jobs and diminishing working rights that char- acterize contemporary migration fows, the debate regarding the relationship between migration and development has been dominated by the almost sacrosanct belief that migration contributes to development of the country of origin. This view―promoted by the World Bank in line with the implementation of neoliberal policies―posits that remittances sent by international migrants have a positive efect on development within countries and regions of origin. Rooted in neoclassical and monetarist economic theories, this approach conceives of migration as an independent variable, and the link between migration and development is approached as a one-way scheme in which remittances serve as a key source of development for countries of origin. This optimistic line of rea- soning portrays the global market as the culmination of capitalist modernity and the end point of an inevitable process that has no reasonable alternative. Social concerns associ- ated with development are overlooked or ignored, as it is generally assumed that a “free” global market—ignoring the outrageous concentration and centralization of capital in a handful of large multinational corporations that control and regulate the global market in contemporary capitalism—will operate as an inexhaustible source of economic growth and social welfare. In this regard, “neoliberal globalization” refers to the current stage of capitalism, characterized by the increasing monopolization of fnance, production, ser- vices and trade, leaving every major global industry dominated by a handful of large multinational corporations. In the expansion of their operations, the agents of corpora- tions, or monopolistic engines of capitalism, have created a global network and process of production, fnance, distribution and investment that has allowed them to seize the strategic and proftable segments of peripheral economies and appropriate the economic surplus produced at enormous and unbearable social and environmental cost (Delgado Wise, 2020). The dominant approach encompasses the following core propositions: 1. Remittances are an instrument for development: in the absence of efective develop- ment policies in less developed, migrant-sending nations, the migrants themselves become agents and catalysts for development in places of origin. Remittances serve as the primary tool. 2. Financial instruments should be democratized: massive remittance fows across the globe produce an attractive market for fnancial enterprises ofering banking services to marginalized groups. Remittance-based savings and credit are viewed as an attractive platform for development under micro-fnance schemes. 504 CREPAZ 9781839104565 PRINT.indd 504 CREPAZ 9781839104565 PRINT.indd 504 13/10/2021 08:38 13/10/2021 08:38