28 SOCIAL SCIENTIST of the male head of a nuclear family there is a male of the joint family who takes charge of important decisions within that nuclear family. This latter point leads us to the effect of male labour emigration for the emancipation of women. As indicated, the males of the joint fantily replace the male head of household during his absence thus reducing the possibility of the women to take full charge of all decisions. Yet one can assume that a larger female participation in the decision making process will exist. Larger degrees of freedom will be next to zero because of the extended social control by the joint family and the small village communities. In India and Pakistan male absence can accelerate existing tensions between women and her in-laws. This sometimes leads to psychic disturbances of the woman involved, known in Pakistan as 'Dubai Syndrome*. Lastly, there is the question of the effect of labour migration for family planning programmes. It is not difficult to imagine that the motivation for women to consistently implement anticonception measures (like pills) is rather limited if the husband is away from home for large periods of time. Summarizing the effects of international labour migration the major point to notice is that there is little congruence in that respect between the individual and the nation. Labour migration is an individual solution to overcome monetary problems and this will in general be successful. The effects, however, on a national scale for the host countries as well as for the countries of origin show a number of negative tendencies, many of which can be related to the nature of rent capitalism, like for example the problems of nation building in the host countries and the effect of inflation the labour exporting countries. A related issue is the expected number of migrants, induced by the dramatic fall in the oil price since late 1985 to about US$ 15 per barrel. Yet, Birks et al. (1986) do not expect a similar dramatic outflow of foreign workers. There has been a general decline in the number of new work permits, but it seems that data in Kuwait indicate that the number of renewed work permits is increasing. There are various reasons for this. In the first place it is obvious that employers tend to renew work permits because it is becoming more difficult to import newly recruited laborers. Secondly, the number of operational staff needed to service the new industries and infrastructure there still implies employing foreign labor. And thirdly, it seems that there is a general expansion in the demand for domestic servants. Anyway, the total effect of the lower oil revenues will be translated in a slowing down of newly recruited labor, but for the time being it does not seem that there will be dramatic numbers of returning migrants. This does not take away from the fact that the reduced possibility for many to migrate to the oil states to solve their financial problems, will add to the continuing economic crisis in the non-oil producing countries in the Middle East and in Southeast Asia.