Remittances are more than economic. They are critical to the social and cultural well-being of movers and nonmovers of small rural communities and nations (Ratha et al. 2008),and remittances must be understood for their benefits as well as their costs. Remittances are of fundamental importance to many migrantsending households as they cope with poor local
economies, limited job markets, and low wages (Suro et al. 2002). The pull of opportunity in destination countries (whether the United States, Western Europe, or elsewhere) tends to relieve some of the pressures on sending
nations to improve labor practices and wages and to develop local economies (Cohen 2001,Stodolska & Santos 2006).
Yet success can drive an increase in overall migration rates that leaves nonmovers in an increasingly dependentposition (Binford 2003) and can challenge movers who cannot meet their own or others’expectations (Duke & Gomez Carpinteiro´
2009). Because remittances do not flow equally,there is also a risk of increased inequality locally as households with movers differentiate themselves from nonmovers (Adams & Page2005, Burawoy 1976, Jones 1998, McKenzie 2006, Semyonov & Gorodzeisky 2008). Remittances are not thrown away on consumer goods and luxury items (Taylor 1999). Rather,remittances are critical in unanticipated ways to local economies as the members of sending households improve their households; spend on education, health care, and rituals; engage in local politics; and invest in small business.
Even as migration rates shift and movers appear from new and heretofore understudied sending regions, remittances will likely continue to be important as will the need for ethnographic and anthropological research that can follow new ways of connecting migrants and nonmigrants and of understanding the flow of goods, services, information, and money.