Diasporas and development:An examination of migrants’ role in their home countries through a survey of the literature

Abstract

This article explores the notion of feedback loops between return migration, or the repatriation of migrants to their native country, and that country’s development. Having laid out the background that argues the existence of a global shortage of talent, the article examines the empirical research framework for return migration and past waves of such migration from northern Europe back south. It then compares and contrasts two known occurrences of mass return migration by analyzing the case studies of Taiwan in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as Poland following its accession to the European Union. The articles concludes that while feedback loops between return migration and the source country’s development do exist, the potential for policy to bring these feedback loops about has so far been limited. However, several factors point to higher chances of success in the future.