Migration’s Root Cause Isn’t That Complicated
The staggering flow of US remittances during Covid helped provide a safety net for migrants’ families back home. They also illuminate why so many chose to head north in the first place.
Will trade work for remittances.
Photographer: STR/AFP via Getty Images
Why didn’t Mexico implode? That may be one of the biggest economic mysteries left in the wake of Covid-19. Mexicans weathered a disproportionate blow: By the first anniversary of the pandemic, Mexico had suffered the second highest rate of excess death in the world, trailing only Armenia.
The government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador did little to mitigate the suffering. It executed the tightest budget in Latin America in 2020 and then trimmed spending in 2021. “The support in response to COVID-19 was notably less than that of emerging market (EM) and regional peers,” noted the International Monetary Fund in its 2021 assessment.