Economic and political restructuring and the sustainability of migrant remittances: the case of Western Samoa

Abstract

This study examines the importance of remittances from emigrants to the economies of Pacific island states. The author considers two basic questions: "Are there enough island-born or island-linked people in the labor forces of industrialized countries to generate a given level of remittances to the island states?...[and] Will those who are able to sustain the flow be willing to? In this paper I examine the case of remittance flows between New Zealand and Western Samoa."