Diaspora and Economic Development: A Systemic View

Recent attempts to generalize isolated successes of expatriate entrepreneurial networks offer limited insight into the more systemic questions on the role of diasporas in sustainable development of small economies. Drawing on experience of post-socialist transition and merging multidisciplinary perspectives, this paper advances a constructive critique to the conventional views. A historically multilayered socioeconomic construct, diaspora is in fact heterogeneous, often, lacking a unified stance and as such likely diminishing the relevance of the simplified first-mover business case study effect in development. Informed by an original survey, this paper proposes a new diaspora driven development framework of analysis. Any successful engagement of a diaspora with its homeland is a function of sustained interaction between the two entities. In the absence of transparent engagement infrastructure, diaspora’s links with a developing economy are short-lived and, usually, sector, event, or location specific. This analysis adds to the literature on the common good dimension in development where individual well-being is a systemic component of a larger outcome rather than the final aim. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1057/s41287-021-00432-x.