MIGRATION AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN WESTERN BALKAN COUNTRIES: EVIDENCE FROM KOSOVO

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to identify the impact of the Western Balkans Diaspora on economic development of these countries, in particular Kosovo. Through qualitative methodological approaches the paper will review and analyze the definition and concept of migration, the reasons and factors of migration, migrations theories, the main destination for migrants, specifications of Kosovo population migration into years, the migration phases of the Kosovo population, the effects of migration or remittances on economic development of Kosovo, effective policies to strengthen the link between diaspora and development, remittance transfer channels and so on. From all the Western Balkan countries, Kosovo continues to be a significant trend for emigration because labour market is unable to absorb the high number of job seekers. Hence, the Kosovo institutions should promote investment and inform the Kosovo diaspora of facilities for doing business, and reforms that have been implemented in Kosovo. The limitations of this research may be the insufficient data and statistics on migration trends of the Western Balkan countries. Therefore, it was not possible to incorporate econometric analysis. The value of this paper, lies in dealing with Western Balkan migration problem, a problem that has been little addressed in the current academic literature.