The Association of Caribbean Economists (ACE) has embarked on a number of projects and initiatives that are premised on the theme of Diasporic Economics as a new and emerging theme with relevance to all language areas of the Caribbean. The VIII^th biannual ACE Conference scheduled for November 2003 will bring together a wide range of scholars and researchers to report on research methodologies and initial findings. The Conference will create greater awareness of the impact and prospects for diasporic economic relations and offer the opportunity to prepare a work program that includes training seminars and publications targeted at public policy-makers, NGDOs, the academic community, and the wider public.

Migration and the creation of an extra-regional diasporic community in the North Atlantic countries has been a key survival strategy for Caribbean people since the twentieth century. It is estimated that the Caribbean region exports more people as a percentage of its population than any other region in the world. It is observed that the growth of the Caribbean Diaspora helps to relieve population pressure, alleviates unemployment, funnels remittances to home countries, creates export markets for specialty and cultural goods and services, facilitates technology diffusion from core economies, and generates diasporic tourism.

Diasporic relations, however, are not an unqualified success. There is much concern about issues such as "brain drain" that depletes poor economies of valuable human capital (e.g. professionals and entrepreneurs) and subsidizes the labor reproduction costs of rich economies. There is also some concern that remittances may increase external dependency, promote Western consumption styles and cause inflationary pressures.

In addition, it is argued that migration and diasporization have presented new security and health risks to the Caribbean economy associated with mobile populations like seasonal farm workers, deported criminals, return migrants, sex workers and tourists. Gender relations are impacted as well by the shift in labor markets in the core economies towards services as reflected in the growth of female migrants in jobs like domestics, nurses and teachers.

These issues have only recently gained saliency in academic research. There is no denying that diasporization has lead to the emergence of a "Global Caribbean Economy" that transcends the boundaries of the Caribbean Basin. The diasporic economy contributes to the growth and diversification of the Caribbean political economy as well as the strategic repositioning of the region’s international relations.

The contribution and potential of diasporic relations to Caribbean development requires further documentation, measurement, and evaluation. There is also a great need to identity ways in which the trends and processes of diasporization can be enhanced to the benefit of the region. The Conference will also require an appreciation of the changing geopolitical and economic context for immigration into the countries of the North Atlantic.

The Conference will give special attention to the case of host country Haiti, including such topics as the geopolitics of aid and migration, the role of the Diaspora in Haitian development, and globalization and Caribbean regionalism seen against the background of 200 years of Haitian sovereignty.

Abstracts of no more than 250 words are to be sent to the address below no later than 31 August 2003. Abstracts should include name, institutional affiliation, full postal address, phone/fax numbers and e-mail address. Listed below is a range of possible themes and issues for panelists.