MIRAB is a concept used to describe the economic structure and social conditions in the Pacific Islands. It is an acronym for Migration, Remittance, Aid, Bureaucracy. The term represents the general economic structure of Pacific nations, where they send labor migrants abroad and rely on their remittances and foreign economic aid as their primary sources of income. The bureaucracy functions as a conduit for the distribution of this economic aid. [1]
The term "MIRAB" was coined by an economist Geoff Bertram and a geographer Ray Watters, through their 1984 research project on New Zealand's policy towards Pacific Islands. They argued that the economies of the Pacific Islands (Cook Islands, Niue, Tokelau, Kiribati, Tuvalu) are based primarily on external capital, such as migrant remittances and development aid, making it difficult to apply a traditional economic approach to the region, which emphasizes export industries and private enterprise. [2] [3]
The MIRAB is more prominent in Polynesia and Micronesia, and less applicable to Melanesia. This is due to the fact that Melanesia is relatively rich in population and natural resources compared to other regions in the Pacific. On the other hand, the structure of migration and remittances in the island-mainland relationship in Melanesia is similar to that between Polynesia and the overseas countries. [2]
Bertram and his colleagues gave a positive assessment of the Pacific Islands' economy, which depends on aid and remittances. [2] They criticized conventional economic theories and argued that the MIRAB economy was effective enough to realistically sustain local economies in microstates such as the Pacific Islands, where autonomous development is difficult. [4] In this discussion, it was also noted that the Pacific Islands have established subsistence activities based on traditional community systems, and that the MIRAB economy, which does not involve domestic industrial development, has the merit of not destroying such a subsistence economic system. In conventional economic theory, such economic conditions were understood as unhealthy, implying "subordination" to other countries, but in the same discussion, "subordination" and "independence" in the Pacific countries were understood as cooperative rather than antagonistic. This perspective was not found in conventional economic development theory. [5]
Some researchers suggest that the MIRAB exists outside the Pacific Islands. Examples include Cape Verde, St. Helena, and São Tomé and Príncipe in the Atlantic; the U.S. Virgin Islands, St. Pierre and Miquelon, Guadeloupe, and Martinique in the Caribbean; and Comoros, Mayotte in the Indian Ocean. Some have also suggested that MIRAB could be applied to small landlocked countries such as Lesotho. [3]
Although MIRAB has become a popular model in Pacific studies, these economic systems have not proven to be sustainable. [6] Counterarguments to the positive assessment of MIRAB include that the negative impact of aid on village economies has not been properly assessed, that MIRAB model ignores the development potential of agricultural economies, and that the ethnographic evidence is incomplete. [2] Jon Fraenkel argues that while the MIRAB model is useful for describing some island economies, it is inadequate for discussing future economic development and is not clear enough to be used for policy recommendations. [3]
From the perspective that the MIRAB model cannot fully explain the economic structure of all island states, alternative and complementary models have also been developed. For example, in 2006, Jerome L. McElroy coined a term "SITEs" (Small Island Tourist Economies) to describe island economies that rely heavily on inbound tourism. In the same year, Godfrey Baldacchino proposed the "PROFIT" model. This is an acronym for People Considerations, Resource Management, Overseas Engagement, Finance, Insurance and Taxation, and Transportation. [7] The model is useful in describing islands that have offshore banks, tax havens, flag of convenience and military bases as their economic base. [3] On the other hand, some are wary of the use of these acronyms, arguing that such categorization simplifies the political context of each region. [8]
Oceania is a geographical region comprising Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, at the centre of the water hemisphere, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of about 9,000,000 square kilometres (3,500,000 sq mi) and a population of around 44.4 million as of 2022. When compared to the other continents, Oceania is the smallest in land area and the second-least populated after Antarctica. It is sometimes used interchangably with the Australia (continent), although few key differences exist.
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about 750 km2 (290 sq mi), scattered over 700,000 km2 (270,000 sq mi) in the southern Pacific Ocean. As of 2021, according to Johnson's Tribune, Tonga has a population of 104,494, 70% of whom reside on the main island, Tongatapu. The country stretches approximately 800 km (500 mi) north-south. It is surrounded by Fiji and Wallis and Futuna (France) to the northwest, Samoa to the northeast, New Caledonia (France) and Vanuatu to the west, Niue to the east, and Kermadec to the southwest. Tonga is about 1,800 km (1,100 mi) from New Zealand's North Island. Tonga is a member of The Commonwealth.
Tuvalu is a Polynesian island nation located in the Pacific Ocean, midway between Hawaii and Australia, with a population of 11,192 per the 2017 census. The economy of Tuvalu is constrained by its remoteness and lack of economies of scale. Government revenues largely come from fishing licences ; direct grants from international donors ; and income from the Tuvalu Trust Fund. The lease of its highly fortuitous .tv Top Level Domain (TLD) also contributes revenue. The sale of stamps since the independence of Tuvalu in 1976 has been an important source of revenue for the country and government. However, such revenue has significantly declined in recent years. Tuvalu has hardly any tourism. It has no tour guides, tour operators or organised activities and no cruise ships visit.
Melanesia is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from New Guinea in the west to the Fiji Islands in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea.
Ecological economics, bioeconomics, ecolonomy, eco-economics, or ecol-econ is both a transdisciplinary and an interdisciplinary field of academic research addressing the interdependence and coevolution of human economies and natural ecosystems, both intertemporally and spatially. By treating the economy as a subsystem of Earth's larger ecosystem, and by emphasizing the preservation of natural capital, the field of ecological economics is differentiated from environmental economics, which is the mainstream economic analysis of the environment. One survey of German economists found that ecological and environmental economics are different schools of economic thought, with ecological economists emphasizing strong sustainability and rejecting the proposition that physical (human-made) capital can substitute for natural capital.
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of Oceania.
The Lapita culture is the name given to a Neolithic Austronesian people and their distinct material culture, who settled Island Melanesia via a seaborne migration at around 1600 to 500 BCE. The Lapita people are believed to have originated from the northern Philippines, either directly, via the Mariana Islands, or both. They were notable for their distinctive geometric designs on dentate-stamped pottery, which closely resemble the pottery recovered from the Nagsabaran archaeological site in northern Luzon. The Lapita intermarried with the Papuan populations to various degrees, and are the direct ancestors of the Austronesian peoples of Polynesia, eastern Micronesia, and Island Melanesia.
Dependency theory is the idea that resources flow from a "periphery" of poor and exploited states to a "core" of wealthy states, enriching the latter at the expense of the former. A central contention of dependency theory is that poor states are impoverished and rich ones enriched by the way poor states are integrated into the "world system". This theory was officially developed in the late 1960s following World War II, as scholars searched for the root issue in the lack of development in Latin America.
Development aid is a type of foreign/international/overseas aid given by governments and other agencies to support the economic, environmental, social, and political development of developing countries. Closely related concepts include: developmental aid, development assistance, official development assistance, development policy, development cooperation and technical assistance. It is distinguished from humanitarian aid by aiming at a sustained improvement in the conditions in a developing country, rather than short-term relief. Development aid is thus widely seen as a major way to meet Sustainable Development Goal 1 for the developing nations.
A dual economy is the existence of two separate economic sectors within one country, divided by different levels of development, technology, and different patterns of demand. The concept was originally created by Julius Herman Boeke to describe the coexistence of modern and traditional economic sectors in a colonial economy.
Poverty reduction, poverty relief, or poverty alleviation is a set of measures, both economic and humanitarian, that are intended to permanently lift people out of poverty.
A remittance is a non-commercial transfer of money by a foreign worker, a member of a diaspora community, or a citizen with familial ties abroad, for household income in their home country or homeland. Money sent home by migrants competes with international aid as one of the largest financial inflows to developing countries. Workers' remittances are a significant part of international capital flows, especially with regard to labor-exporting countries.
The New Zealand Aid Programme is the New Zealand Government's international aid and development agency. The New Zealand Aid Programme is managed by the Pacific and Development Group in the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT). Previously a semi-autonomous body known as the New Zealand Agency for International Development (NZAID), it was reintegrated back into MFAT as the International Development Group following a restructure in 2009. Its Māori name is Nga Hoe Tuputupu-mai-tawhiti – the paddles that bring growth from afar. The Head of the New Zealand Aid Programme is Jonathan Kings, a lawyer and public servant. According to the OECD, New Zealand’s total official development assistance (ODA) decreased in 2022 due to fewer disbursements within its three-year budget cycle and represented 0.23% of gross national income (GNI).
Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in common, including language relatedness, cultural practices, and traditional beliefs. In centuries past, they had a strong shared tradition of sailing and using stars to navigate at night.
Tonga's economy is characterized by a large nonmonetary sector and a heavy dependence on remittances from the half of the country's population that lives abroad, chiefly in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. Much of the monetary sector of the economy is dominated, if not owned, by the royal family and nobles. This is particularly true of the telecommunications and satellite services. Much of small business, particularly retailing on Tongatapu, is now dominated by recent Chinese immigrants who arrived under a cash-for-passports scheme that ended in 1998.
Richard Andreas Werner is a German banking and development economist who is a university professor at University of Winchester.
This timeline of the history of Tuvalu chronologically lists important events occurring within the present political boundaries of the Pacific island state of Tuvalu. This time line is introduced by the theories as to the origins of the Polynesian people and the migration across the Pacific Ocean to create Polynesia, which includes the islands of Tuvalu.
Raymond Frederick Watters was a New Zealand geographer. He conducted interdisciplinary studies and projects for UN agencies, British Overseas Development Administration, NZ Aid and governments of a number of developing countries including Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Mexico, Venezuela, Peru and Papua New Guinea.
According to the Department of the Treasury of the Australian Government, the World Bank is the single “largest multilateral partner of Australia”. Australian membership in the World Bank Group (WBG) is motivated by both 1) efforts to aid and assist the developing nations of the world and 2) to promote Australian regional interests throughout the East Asian, Southeast Asian, and greater Oceania regions. Examples of this include the multiple projects co-financed by Australia and the World Bank Group in the East Asian and Pacific regions that include the development of “infrastructure, health, education, and private sector development”. Australian membership has led to countless successful foreign aid and development projects totaling hundreds of millions; in 2012-13 alone, Australia provided close to $552.6 million to the World Bank Group.