Uzbekistan new indd

conclusions
High expenses for weddings and other traditional 
ceremonies in the developing world should raise con-
cerns over the roots and causes of such behavior not 
only for the migrant families but also their societies 
and respective governments. First of all, this issue is 
crucial to understand since there is much at stake for 
a labor migrant including social and economic costs; 
secondly, from the market economy point of view the 
research world refers to this kind of “lavish” spending 
as “unproductive investment” due to its inability to 
generate profit, increase welfare, or create addition-
al jobs; thirdly, unproductive use of remittances can 
hardly impact economic growth. Addressing research 
questions, this study has not found any correlation 
between spending patterns on cultural ceremonies, 
such as weddings, in households with labor migrants 
(remittances) a vis-à-vis households without labor 
migrants. In other words, households without labor 
migrants spend almost the same amount on wed-
dings as households with labor migrants. This could 
explain the rationale behind the desire to become a 
labor migrant for those households that cannot oth-
erwise afford lavish weddings.
Figure 3. Expense Items of Migrants as a Percent of Their Total Earnings
  
 
 
 
Cтр. 96 Figure 2.  
 
Traditional 
rites 
19% 
Education 
10% 
Food 
25% 
Housing 
21% 
Clothing 
14% 
Health 
7% 
Debt
 
4%
 
Source: GIZ 2013 Survey

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Farrukh Irnazarov
68
Certainly, so-called unproductive (from the eco-
nomic perspective) investment behavior of house-
holds does not occur in a vacuum, but is influenced 
rather by cultural and social factors. In particular, 
families feel pressured by the communities they be-
long to, and quite often have to stick to their tradi-
tions and celebrate expensive weddings to demon-
strate their belongingness. However, “unproductive” 
spending is also shaped by:
•  Unfavorable financial infrastructure. 
Households are reluctant to make bank de-
posits as there is a lack of trust in financial 
institutions. Uzbek banks do not produce any 
financial packages for labor migrants, espe-
cially in rural areas.
•  Lack of knowledge/awareness. Households 
are ill-informed of existing investment op-
portunities. They also do not have a tradition 
of planning their expenses and are driven by 
short-term rationale. 
•  Lack of experience/credibility regarding the 
environment in which to set up a business. 
Without having any prior experience in busi-
ness and aware of the problems businessmen 
face, households give a second thought be-
fore getting involved in business activities.
•  Weak law enforcement and public institutions. 
As many businessmen praise legislation, to 
the same extent they complain about law 
enforcement. Selective law enforcement and 
different interpretations of the tax code by 
tax inspectors also prevent households from 
setting up businesses.
•  Lack of government interventions/control to 
mitigate or discontinue “unproductive” invest-
9 “Bangladesh Household Remittance Survey, 2009,” International Organization for Migration, 2009.
10 Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 2010.
11 Global Voices, 2012, http://globalvoicesonline.org/2008/07/14/bangladesh-an-expensive-wedding/.
12 Himalayan Times, 2011, http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Nepali+migrants+earn+over+Rs+400+billion&News-
ID=293800.
13 http://sajha.com/sajha/html/index.cfm?StartRow=21&PageNum=2&forum=1&threadid=88611.
14 www.migrant.ru.
15 http://eng.24.kg/business/2011/08/10/19663.html.
16 Mir24, 2012; http://mir24.tv/news/society/4840764.
17 Polit, 2012; http://www.polit.kg/newskg/246.
18 www.migrant.ru.
19 http://news.tj/en/news/average-monthly-wage-tajikistan-stands-nearly-us103.
20 http://www.bashkoda.com/articles/traditsii/psn/.
21 OECD, 2012; http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/32/50/43948033.pdf.
22 http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/aug/08/wedding-day-costs-savings.
23 OECD, 2012; http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/32/50/43948033.pdf.
24 http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/23/us-wedding-costs-idUSBRE82M11O20120323.
Table 3. Comparison of Costs on Wedding Ceremonies in the Developed and Developing World