Altruistic Preferences as Motivation for Migrants in the Diaspora to Remit to Home Communities

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to analyse what motivates the migrants from the Central African Region who are in the diaspora, to remit part of their earnings to target development within their region of origin. This contribution is based on the hypothesis that the remittances of the migrants living abroad are organized and motivated by altruism to contribute to the improvement of the social welfare. We have used a utility function, and an altruistic preference function to show that altruism is the main driving force for diasporans to continue supporting various development projects in their countries of origin. The main result is that, altruistic diasporans are the key strategic agents that make the nexus between migration and development a reality.