Date of Award

2016-01-01

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Latin American and Border Studies

Advisor(s)

Josiah M. Heyman

Abstract

The United States-Mexico remittance corridor finds itself at a crossroads, exacerbated by an amalgam of factors including tapering migration levels, a more mature Mexican economy and higher levels of technological permeation. I identify the individual, governments and service providers as the three main actors in the United States - Mexico Remittance Corridor. I deploy an interdisciplinary set of sources, ranging from academic journals to World Bank datasets to illustrate the logistical hurdles that are delaying changes to what many experts believe, is an unsustainable status-quo. I explore the idea of a Galtung inspired mutually reinforcing triangle as a means of depicting the potential convergence of the interests of governments, the individual and the private sector in the decreasing of informal remittances. I argue that technology has the potential to open the remittance market as well as provide new areas of cooperation between actors. Whether or not this market shifts towards the formal or informal sector is widely contingent on how policymakers respond to the dynamic needs of unbanked populations with transnational economic behaviors.

Language

en

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Size

91 pages

File Format

application/pdf

Rights Holder

Sam Wilner Simon

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