Root: remit
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/remittances
(n) money or its equivalent sent from one place to another.
http://en.thinkexist.com/dictionary/meaning/remittance/
(n) The act of transmitting money, bills, or the like, esp. to a distant place, as in satisfaction of a demand, or in discharge of an obligation.
Money earned by migrants, sent to people (usually kin) in their country of origin.
The emergence of remittances in 2004 as the second largest source of net financial flows to developing countries has made remittances one of the most prevalent and visible ways in which international migration is reshaping countries of origin (Maimbo, 2005)
The term/concept of remittance has evolved to account for the various aspects of things that are transmitted to a country in a transnational social field (eg. social remittances, technological remittances, financial remittances, etc.). See list of useful sources for more.
The World Bank “Migration and Remittances Factbook” updated annually provides “a snapshot of migration and remittances for all countries, regions and income groups of the world…” (World Bank, 2011)
Bracking, Sarah. (2003) ‘Sending Money home: are remittances always beneficial to those who stay behind?’ Journal of International Development Studies, 15, pp. 633-644
Gammage, Sarah. (2006). “Exporting People and Recruiting Remittances.” Latin American Perspectives 151, Vol. 33. No. 6: 75-100
Ghosh, B. (2006), Migrants’ remittances and development myths, rhetoric and realities, Geneva: International Organization for Migration.
Goldring, Luin. (2004) “Family and Collective Remittances to Mexico: A Multi-dimensional Typology” Development and Change 35, Vol.4:799-840
Hernandez, Ester & Coutin, Susan. (2006) “Remitting subjects: migrants, money and states.” Economy and Society 35, Issue 2: 185-208.
Levitt, Peggy. (1998) “Social remittances: migration driven local-level forms of cultural diffusion” International Migration Review 32, No. 4: 926-948.
World Bank. (2011). Migration and Remittances Factbook 2011