Diaspora Networks, Non-Economic Remittances and Entrepreneurship Development: Evidence from Some Economies in Latin America By: Nir Kshetri, Diana Rojas-Torres, Marleny Cardona Acevedo Kshetri, Nir, Diana Rojas-Torres, and Marleny Cardona Acevedo (2015). "Diaspora Networks, Non-Economic Remittances and Entrepreneurship Development: Evidence from Some Economies in Latin America," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship 20(1). *** Electronic version of an article published as Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, Vol. 20, No. 1, 2015, 18 pages https://doi.org/10.1142/S1084946715500053 © World Scientific Publishing Company http://www.worldscientific.com/worldscinet/jde ***Note: This version of the document is not the version of record. Figures and/or pictures may be missing from this format of the document. *** 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. Keywords: Diaspora networks | Latin America and the Caribbean | non-economic remittances | social remittances | technical remittances | political remittances Article: 1. Introduction Diaspora networks are playing an important role in the development of entrepreneurship in developing countries. For instance, Woodruff and Zenteno’s (2007) survey of microenterprises in Mexico found that about one-third of the capital invested was associated with migration to the United States. It is argued that economic remittances from diaspora networks play the role of financial intermediaries in the sense that such remittances enable households and micro- entrepreneurs to overcome credit constraints and imperfections they face in the financial markets in developing countries. Households and micro-enterprises receiving economic remittances are able to invest in human and physical capital, which is likely to stimulate entrepreneurial