This paper shows the remarkable persistence of remittance-based migrations in India across the twentieth century. Drawing on recent national survey data and unique census data at the district level, we show that for regions covering 20% of the population of India, poor and rich, mobility has been persistently high in magnitude and has been male-dominated, remittance based and circular in nature for well over a 100 years This paper highlights the importance of social networks and deep rooted migration cultures influenced by source region conditions, in explaining migration persistence, and argues that remittance economies constitute a unique model of development that needs to be judged separately from other development models. [Migration and Development, Vol.1, No.1].
URL : http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/21632324.2012.716225