Accumulation by subordination: migration-underdevelopment in the open economy

Matt Withers’ article explores the class, ethnic, and gendered implications of dependence on a remittance-led economy. He argues that the “open economy has rekindled a colonial logic of accumulation by subordination that has marginalised the poor within an uneven and remittance-led model of development”. Withers’ article reminds us of how easily the predatory logic of capitalism is masked by the neoliberal push for reform of sectors such as cinnamon peeling, logistics, and labour migration.