Migración de retorno y capital humano / Return migration and human capital

Abstract

This present article is interested in the relationship between migration and development. The argument that migrants accumulate valuable human capital during migration is one of the pillars of the dominant rhetoric propagated by international institutions. On the basis of a qualitative work with Peruvian migrants returning from Italy (interviews held both in Italy y Peru), such statements lose force. We aim to show that reality is far more complex and contradictory. Our results suggest that there is no harmonious evolution of the various dimensions of human capital, but rather an asymmetric and contradictory one. We identified two groups of returning migrants under the aspect of the accumulation of human capital during migration. In the case of migrant workers carrying out low-skilled activities, there is no accumulation of human capital to be appreciated after they return, much to the contrary: one states the absolute and relative loss of their initial human capital.