Remittance outcomes in rural Oaxaca, Mexico: challenges, options and opportunities for migrant households

Cohen, J.H.; Rodriguez, L.; Cohen, J.H; Rodriguez, L

doi:10.1002/psp.356

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Remittance outcomes in rural Oaxaca, Mexico: challenges, options and opportunities for migrant households

Cohen, J.H.; Rodriguez, L.

Population, Space and Place 11(1): 49-63

2005

ISSN/ISBN: 1544-8444

DOI: 10.1002/psp.356

Document Number: 240762

This paper investigates the ways in which migrant households in rural Oaxaca, Mexico, use remittances. Data from a survey of 590 households in 11 villages and an ethnographic research conducted in a 12th village in the central valleys of the state are used to examine three investment strategies: those made in the local (village) commercial economy, those made in the agricultural/dairy sector, and those made in Oaxaca's tourism industry. The discussion examines the challenges that surround such local efforts and asks whether such patterns increase dependency, or create opportunities. Finally, it explores the question of whether investment of remittances can mitigate future migration. It is suggested that while strong ties will continue to pull Oaxacans home to rural sending villages in the central valleys, the prospects for real development, the kind without the pressure to migrate, will be in the far distant future.