Debt as Entrapment or Strategy?: Livelihood Strategies and Patterns of Remittance Use amongst Transnational Families in Thailand and Vietnam

Whilst studies have shown that migration is often undertaken as a livelihood strategy amongst transnational families in Southeast Asia, little has been explored concerning the role and implications of debt on patterns of everyday remittance use. Drawing on qualitative and quantitative data from the CHAMPSEA (Child Health and Migrant Parents in Southeast Asia) study in Thailand and Vietnam, this paper seeks to unpack the relationship between debt, remittance use, and migration as a strategy of poverty alleviation. Although the results from our survey indicated that a significant proportion of actual remittance use planned for uses such as children’s education, house building or subsistence needs was diverted towards debt repayment, a closer look at the qualitative data revealed a more complicated picture concerning the nature of debt in two distinct but overlapping ways: debt as entrapment (whereby debt is perpetuated as a vicious cycle of poverty); and debt as strategy (whereby the household undertakes deliberate decisions to purchase material investments through instalment loans). These findings emphasise the complex nature of migration, whilst highlighting the need for studies on migration and development to incorporate a more nuanced understanding of debt concerning household decision-making practices and remittance use.