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Much of the interest and research on migrant remittances in the past have been concerned with the monetary value of such transactions and their macro-economic implications for the sending countries. It was only in recent years that research has focused on the social impact that remittances have for migrant workers and their families and communities of origin. We discuss some of the conceptual and methodological issues that such research poses in Asia, where a policy of temporary labour migration is widely practised by host governments. We call for greater attention to be paid to the sending, receipt, control and use of remittances as integral to the social process of remittance transfers. We recommend the adoption of existing social research methods such as multisite and mixed-method designs, both-ways surveys and longitudinal work. We also stress the need to view remittance transfer as a gendered process. The reconfiguration of such research, we argue, will give rise to a sociology of migrant remittances.

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One of the visible but often neglected outcomes of international migration in Asia is the emergence of immigrant-run businesses. Drawing on the experiences of Bangladeshi migrant entrepreneurs in Japan, this study examines how migrants reposition themselves from the rank of irregular workers to that of entrepreneurs under conditions of temporary migration. It highlights both the opportunity structure and the ingenuity of migrants in entrepreneurship. Unlike traditional migrant businesses, Bangladeshi migrant entrepreneurs engage in transactions in ethnic and non-ethnic products and are driven to adopt innovative strategies to make use of available technology in communication and transport and the globalization of markets. In doing so, they maintain multiple orientations in cultivating both the ethnic and local markets and developing a transnational and/or multinational dimension in growing their businesses.

This study explores and suggests a methodological approach to the gender dimensions of remittances. It argues that remittances should be seen as a social process and examined in relation to (i) the sending side, (ii) the recipient side and (iii) gendered use of remittances by the households. Focusing on Indonesian domestic workers in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong, and migrant households in Central Java, it explores the gender dimensions of remittance-sending, receiving, control and use, and their development implications. Despite their lower incomes, female domestic workers remit a greater share of their earnings than their male counterparts; they tend to remit to their mothers and sisters rather than to fathers, brothers and husbands. Close to half of the recipients exercise discretion over the use of remittances; female recipients tend to use remittances to invest in human capital and male recipients, in physical capital.