Roy Germano on “Outsourcing Welfare: How the Money Immigrants Send Home Contributes to Stability in Developing Countries”

NYU research scholar and adjunct professor Roy Germano will discuss his new book, “Outsourcing Welfare: How the Money Immigrants Send Home Contributes to Stability in Developing Countries.” Talk will be followed by Q&A and book signing. Museum staff will be on hand to direct guests to the 5th floor of 48 Wall Street for this program.

About the book:

Rising food prices, climate change and the ravages of global capitalism have made the poor increasingly vulnerable to economic crises. At the same time, the governments of many developing countries have adopted austerity measures that leave their citizens without a safety net in times of need. This combination poses a potent threat to social and political stability throughout the developing world. How do the poor cope with economic crises when their governments fail to guarantee social welfare? How do societies keep from fracturing under the weight of economic grievances and civil unrest?

In Outsourcing Welfare, Roy Germano argues that the answers to these questions lie with remittances, the hundreds of billions of dollars that international migrants send to their home countries. Remittances are a leading source of income in dozens of developing economies and a critical lifeline that millions of families use to pay for food, healthcare, clothing and other basics. In the absence of adequate government social protections, remittances insulate poor families from the full pain of economic crises, and in doing so, reduce the severity of grievances that fuel populist anger, civil unrest and political instability.

Through stories from his fieldwork in Mexico and Central America and analyses of data from Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and the Middle East, Germano shows how remittances buffer economic shocks, contribute to economic optimism and dampen the threat of popular discontent during economic crises. He argues that remittances perform a social, economic and political function that is strikingly similar to social spending, and that counting on people to migrate and send money home has become a de facto social welfare policy in many developing countries











When: Thu., Sep. 13, 2018 at 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Where: Museum of American Finance
48 Wall St.
212-908-4110
Price: Free for members and students, $5 for others
Buy tickets/get more info now
See other events in these categories:

NYU research scholar and adjunct professor Roy Germano will discuss his new book, “Outsourcing Welfare: How the Money Immigrants Send Home Contributes to Stability in Developing Countries.” Talk will be followed by Q&A and book signing. Museum staff will be on hand to direct guests to the 5th floor of 48 Wall Street for this program.

About the book:

Rising food prices, climate change and the ravages of global capitalism have made the poor increasingly vulnerable to economic crises. At the same time, the governments of many developing countries have adopted austerity measures that leave their citizens without a safety net in times of need. This combination poses a potent threat to social and political stability throughout the developing world. How do the poor cope with economic crises when their governments fail to guarantee social welfare? How do societies keep from fracturing under the weight of economic grievances and civil unrest?

In Outsourcing Welfare, Roy Germano argues that the answers to these questions lie with remittances, the hundreds of billions of dollars that international migrants send to their home countries. Remittances are a leading source of income in dozens of developing economies and a critical lifeline that millions of families use to pay for food, healthcare, clothing and other basics. In the absence of adequate government social protections, remittances insulate poor families from the full pain of economic crises, and in doing so, reduce the severity of grievances that fuel populist anger, civil unrest and political instability.

Through stories from his fieldwork in Mexico and Central America and analyses of data from Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and the Middle East, Germano shows how remittances buffer economic shocks, contribute to economic optimism and dampen the threat of popular discontent during economic crises. He argues that remittances perform a social, economic and political function that is strikingly similar to social spending, and that counting on people to migrate and send money home has become a de facto social welfare policy in many developing countries

Buy tickets/get more info now