No Borders, No Limits? Remittances to Southwest Bangladesh

In 2022, estimated remittances in low- and middle-income countries exceeded foreign direct investment and official development assistance. Bangladesh received US$21 billion, ranking among the top-ten remittance receiving countries in the world. Little is known about the impacts of remittances in Bangladesh origin communities or the extent to which these impacts vary by region. Using BEMS Ethnosurvey data, Dr. Tonassi will illustrate the ways in which remittance flows and savings are brought home by return migrants – and how they compare to locally-earned income.

Dr. Timo Tonassi is an Adjunct Professor and Post-Doctoral Fellow at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service Institute for the Study of International Migration. Timo has worked as a researcher at the The Expert Council on Integration and Migration (SVR) in Berlin, Germany, where he conducted quantitative and qualitative research on the political integration of migrants, public attitudes on migration, drivers of migration, and EU policies of migration control. He has published policy briefs, articles and studies and has been featured in Der Spiegel, Forbes, and other news outlets. Timo holds an M.A. from Humboldt University of Berlin and a Ph.D. from Free University Berlin.