The Timing and Direction of Migrant Money Circulation: Peruvian Migrants in Switzerland

Abstract

Remittances are sent and received to maintain family livelihoods, to cover the education costs of younger members, to provide care services for ageing family members, to support business ventures, etc. Although a growing body of literature assesses the role of remittances in the migration-development nexus, past studies have rarely focused on time-sensitive dimensions such as family life-cycles and life-course stages. In addition, a dynamic analysis of social stratification based on gender, age, citizenship status and class within and between these families serves to enrich a transnational perspective on remittances. Life-course perspectives represent a suitable framework for tracing money circulation across multiple national settings and dynamic processes of social stratification. Beyond the common image of remittances being sent from host to home countries, Peruvians in Switzerland also receive money from their home country.