Remittance behaviours of foreigners in Italy

This article investigates the determinants of remittance behaviours among foreigners in Italy and intends to gain a better understanding of the temporal pattern of remittances. The analysis is based on data from the 2009 “Italian Statistics on Income and Living Conditions of Households with Foreigners”. The decisions on whether to remit and how much to remit are separately yet simultaneously estimated using a zero‐inflated beta regression model. The findings reveal that remittances are driven by a mix of altruistic and self‐interest motives that may persist for many years. Many covariates included in the model have a different effect on the propensity to remit and on the relative amount of remittances. We find some evidence that the average propensity to remit follows an M‐shaped trajectory over time. However, the model specification including only time and time squared proves that the inverted‐U shape trajectory, well‐established in the literature, still remains a better choice in terms of parsimoniousness and flexibility. Among those who remit, time since migration does not have any significant effect on the normalized amount remitted.     

Between two families: the social meaning of remittances for Vietnamese marriage migrants in Singapore

Scholars who have applied transnational perspectives to studies of migration and remittances have called for a move beyond the developmentalist approach to accommodate an expanded understanding of the social meanings of remittances. Researchers working in Asia have begun to view the remittances of money, gifts and services that labour migrants send to their families as transnational ‘acts of recognition’, as an enactment of gendered roles and identities, and as a component of the social practices that create the ties that bind migrants to their ‘home’ countries. In this article, we depart from the more common focus on remittance behaviour among labour migrants and turn instead to examine how, as marriage migrants, Vietnamese women generate and confer meaning on the remittances they send. First, from the women's viewpoint, we discuss the extent to which expectations vested in being able to generate remittances for the natal family by marrying a Singaporean man not only translate into motivation for marriage migration but also shape the parameters of the marriage. Second, we show how sending remittances are significant to the women as ‘acts of recognition’ in the construction of gendered identities as filial daughters, and, through the ‘connecting’ and ‘disconnecting’ power of remittances, in the reimagining of the transnational family. Third, we discuss the strategies that women devise in negotiating between the conflicting demands and expectations of their natal and marital families and in securing their ‘place’ between two families. We base our findings on an analysis of interviews and ethnographic work with Vietnamese women and their Singaporean husbands through commercial matchmaking agencies.     

Remittances and labour market outcomes: Evidence from Mexico

The effects of remittances on labour market outcomes have been studied by many researchers, primarily using micro‐level data. While a few studies have also used macro‐level data, they suffer from endogeneity bias due to the inclusion of remittances in their estimations. The present study attempts to fill the gap in the literature by using a set of panel data of Mexican states and by addressing the endogeneity bias with a system GMM (generalized method of moments) estimator. The main conclusions are that remittances increase labour force participation rates and reduce median hours worked, critical employment and unemployment duration.     

The Effect of Remittances on Economic Growth in Kyrgyzstan and Macedonia: Accounting for Financial Development

Kyrgyzstan and Macedonia have experienced a reasonable increase in remittances over the last twenty‐five years. Subsequently, the extent to which remittances can be instrumental for economic development of the two countries has gained serious attention in recent development dialogues. The aim of this study is to examine the impact of remittances versus financial development on the economic growth of the two counties, complementing the burgeoning interest and focus on remittances for policy. The short‐run and the long‐run effects and the causality dynamics of remittances and financial development, are explored. The results show a long‐run positive impact of remittances on the economic growth of these countries. The impact of financial development is negative, significant only for Kyrgyzstan and not statistically significant for Macedonia. The causality results show that remittances support economic growth for Kyrgyzstan, whereas economic growth appears to propel remittances for Macedonia.     

The impact of remittances from Canada's seasonal workers programme on Mexican farms

Based on a survey of participants in Canada's Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program, the authors’ three‐stage least squares estimation of a simultaneous equation model finds that migrants’ remittances enhance on‐farm investments in Mexico, which, in turn, increase farm income. Remittances are also found to have a positive influence on non‐farm income in Mexico, by giving respondents the possibility of starting a new business and diversifying their investments. These results support the hypothesis underlying the “new economics of labour migration” that remittances contribute to economic development by relaxing the credit constraint on the investment function of family farms.     

Saving out of Remittances: Evidence from Ethiopia and Kenya

This article examines the saving behaviour of remittance recipients in Ethiopia and Kenya. The few existing estimates of savings from remittances, often obtained indirectly using expenditure analysis, vary widely. The analysis presented here relies on ordinal saving categories reported in response to a direct survey question. The results reveal that the savings rate is higher in Kenya than Ethiopia, in the raw data and the multivariate model, although in both countries it rises with receipt size. Interestingly, gender is a robust predictor of differential savings, albeit with a contrasting pattern: women save more than men in Ethiopia, while the reverse is true in Kenya. In other results, a pre‐migration agreement about remittances has a strong positive effect on savings. Savings rates are also positively associated with financial inclusion in Ethiopia and formal channel flows in Kenya. Many of these results are confirmed by analysis of broader forms of saving/investment.     

“Here One Moment… and Gone the Next?” Remittance as a Social Visibility Tool

Human labor is as much an export as any good. Remittances are a critical source of income for left‐behind families and communities. Transnational labor migrants often describe themselves as ‘invisible’: neither present in the lives of left‐behind families nor members of the receiving community. Building on social remittances literature, we argue that remittances serve as a remedy for this ‘invisibility.’ Through analysis of interviews with 26 temporary labor migrants from 11 countries resident in Israel, we find remittances can render migrants visible to transnational families and provide identity benefits to labor migrants. If visibility benefits decline because of familial role changes, reduced value as a remitter, cost exceeding benefits or because contracting partners change, remittance practices will change. Contrary to previous literature, our findings show that remittances decisions are dynamic, revealing why remittances practices change and even cease. Findings have implications for understanding the multibillion‐dollar remittances industry and immigrant incorporation.     

International Migrants' Remittances and Welfare Status of the Left‐Behind Families in Turkey

In this study, micro implications of remittances are examined based on the data from the 1996 Turkish International Migration Survey (TIMS‐96), part of a comprehensive study of Eurostat and the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI). Results of the study imply that migrant savings are generally used for satisfying basic consumption needs. Patterns of expenditures suggest that for 12 percent of all the households receiving remittances, about 80 percent used remittances to improve their standard of living. Considering the variation by regions, it is observed that households in less‐developed regions spent more on daily expenses than those in developed regions. This suggests that daily expenses of households in less developed regions depend significantly on remittances received by households. Moreover, remittances have a positive impact on household welfare; households receiving remittances are found to be better off than nonremitting households. This suggests that migration and remittances have positive indirect effects on incomes of emigrant households. A considerable part of the relevant literature argues that remittances are mostly spent on consumption, housing and land and are not used for productive investment that would contribute to long‐run development. This conclusion often rests on arbitrary definitions of “productive investments.” Access to better nutrition and allocation of more resources to education are, without question, forms of productive investment. Although emigration does not serve as a solution to the problems of national development, it is evident that remittances generate considerable welfare effects, at least for the remittance‐receiving population.     

EU Integration & Emigration Consequences: The Case of Lithuania

This paper analyses the causes, consequences, and policy implications of Lithuanian emigration following the country’s European Union (EU) accession in May 2004. After placing Lithuanian emigration in its historical context, the study assesses the recent dynamics, including the driving forces and characteristics of Lithuanian emigration at both the international and domestic level. The study finds that the primary determinants of this movement are both demand‐ and supply‐side factors. On the demand side, the labour shortages, decline in the working age population, and desire for cheaper labour in Western European countries function to attract Lithuanian labour. Concurrently, lower wages, higher unemployment, and the generally less developed economic conditions in Lithuania are encouraging Lithuanians to take advantage of the greater mobility that came with EU accession. The expanding networks linking migrants and potential migrants are facilitating this out‐migration, as well as the social mind‐set by which emigration is a perceived solution to socio‐economic difficulties. This study concludes that the consequences of this new emigration reality are mixed. The free movement of workers has helped to relieve pressure on the domestic labour market, drive down unemployment, place upward pressure on wages, and increase the remittances rate to Lithuania. However, concern is not ill‐founded; recent emigration has introduced labour market shortages, placed greater demographic pressure on the country, and increased the likelihood of brain drain. This study argues, therefore, that while Lithuanian emigration cannot and should not be stopped, Lithuania does have policy alternatives as a sending‐country that will help to mitigate the costs of emigration and maximize the benefits for the country’s long‐term development.     

Growth Effects of Remittances in Bangladesh: Is there a U‐shaped Relationship?

This article shows that the effect of remittances on economic growth involves a U‐shaped pattern, which is negative initially but later becomes positive. The analysis differs significantly from earlier studies in that it examines important methodological issues on the specification and estimation of the long‐run growth effects of remittances by estimating their impact on total factor productivity (TFP) rather than on the growth rate of GDP, using time series data from Bangladesh. The use of single‐equation cointegration methods shows that remittances’ effect on long‐run growth in Bangladesh is negative and falling until the remittances‐to‐GDP ratio is roughly eight per cent. The benefits of remittances receipts outweigh their costs and their net effects start to become positive when the ratio exceeds 14 per cent.     

Why without pay? Intrinsic motivation in the unpaid labour supply

Economic theory explains the supply of volunteering alternatively as an ordinary consumer good or an investment good. This paper provides a simultaneous approach, considering both objectives, by using the psychological distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, in order to reconcile conflicting results reported in the literature. Following the simultaneity approach, the paper develops a theoretical model of unpaid labour supply within an agent's two-period utility maximization problem, taking into account the role of psychological motivation. The theoretical hypotheses are tested with a sample selection model for Italy, by using the 1997 Multipurpose Households Survey on everyday life issues carried out by the Italian National Statistical Office. A robustness analysis and endogeneity test for intrinsic motivation are also performed. Empirical analysis rejects the hypothesis that only a consumption or investment motive can explain Italian volunteers’ behaviour, supporting the hypothesis that both motives interact in shaping regular unpaid labour supply, with a stronger impact of consumption motives. The relevant variables for frequently supplied unpaid labour are intrinsic motivation, age, household income, family responsibilities and activity sector.     

The resilience of migrant money: how gender,generation and class shape family remittances in Peruvian migration

Scholars and policy makers have argued that because altruism drives remittance sending, migrant money is more resilient to uncertainty than other capital flows. In this article, I question this assumption through ethnographic examination of remittance sending by Peruvian migrant families. When in their lives do Peruvian migrants start to remit? Who are the recipients? What is the purpose of their remittances? How long do they last and why do they stop? I argue that, to answer these questions, we need to investigate how migrants make remittance commitments to different household members, how these attribute value to the remittances and how this value becomes the object of negotiation and contestation. The findings indicate that remittances reinforce existing relations of gender, generation and class in Peruvian society and suggest that while short‐lived remittances are based on contractual commitments and driven by altruism, long‐term remittances are based on emotional commitments and driven by both non‐utilitarian and utilitarian motives.     

Impact of Public and Private Cash Transfers on Poverty and Inequality: Evidence from Vietnam

This article investigates the extent to which public and private transfers affected poverty and inequality in Vietnam in the mid‐2000s. It finds that the impact of public transfers on poverty was negligible, due to the low coverage of the poor and the relatively small amounts transferred. Moreover, the effect of the receipt of transfers on expenditures was small: recipients decreased the labour supply and only a limited amount of the extra income went to current consumption. Domestic private transfers were somewhat more successful in reducing poverty. With most public and private transfers going to non‐poor households, inequality was only marginally affected.     

Remittances and inequality in Cape Verde: the impact of changing family organization

There is a risk that remittances exacerbate socio‐economic inequality among the recipients. In this case study of a Cape Verdean community I explore how variations in family organization interact with the distribution of remittances and their effects on local social stratification. Formerly, the typical migrant was male and directed the main part of his remittances to a nuclear household he had left behind. Households that included a male migrant were able to raise their standard of living over that of households without a migrant member. Today, relationships between women and men have become increasingly unstable and long‐lasting transnational family ties are now rarely based on a conjugal relationship. Both women and men migrate and they often start up a new family abroad. Consequently, when migrants send remittances to Cape Verde they do not invest in their own future lives as they did in the past. Instead, they try to support ageing parents and young children left behind. This means that migrants often have economic obligations to several households and that they are therefore only able to send limited amounts of money to each. This implies, first, that many households are recipients of remittances and, second, that they normally only receive small sums. In conclusion, it may be said that these changes in family organization have reduced the risk that remittances will exacerbate inequality.     

Labor Migration,Remittances and Household Income: A Comparison between Filipino and Filipina Overseas Workers1

The major purpose of the research is to examine gender differences in patterns of labor market activity, economic behavior and economic outcomes among labor migrants. While focusing on Filipina and Filipino overseas workers, the article addresses the following questions: whether and to what extent earnings and remittances of overseas workers differ by gender; and whether and to what extent the gender of overseas workers differentially affects household income in the Philippines. Data for the analysis were obtained from the Survey of Households and Children of Overseas Workers (a representative sample of households drawn in 1999–2000 from four major “labor sending” areas in the Philippines). The analysis focuses on 1,128 households with overseas workers. The findings reveal that men and women are likely to take different jobs and to migrate to different destinations. The analysis also reveals that many more women were unemployed prior to migration and that the earnings of women are, on average, lower than those of men, even after controlling for variations in occupational distributions, country of destination, and sociodemographic attributes. Contrary to popular belief, men send more money back home than do women, even when taking into consideration earnings differentials between the genders. Further analysis demonstrates that income of households with men working overseas is significantly higher than income of households with women working overseas and that this difference can be fully attributed to the earnings disparities and to differences in amount of remittances sent home by overseas workers. The results suggest that gender inequal‐     

Effects of Workers' Remittances and its Volatility on Economic Growth in South Asia

This study investigates the effect of workers' remittances and its volatility on economic growth of five South Asian countries by employing long time series data from 1975 to 2009. Cointegration results confirm a significant positive long run relationship between remittances and economic growth in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal, but a significant negative relationship in Pakistan. Conversely, the volatility of workers' remittances has a negative and significant effect on economic growth in Pakistan, Indian, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, but a negative but insignificant impact in Nepal. All sensitivity analyses confirm that the results are robust. A less volatile inflow of workers' remittances is growth‐enhancing for all countries. It is suggested that policy makers should make policies to reduce the transaction cost to welcome remittances into the region. Furthermore, countries like Pakistan should make the policies to discourage voluntary unemployment.

Policy Implications

• This study show the positive effect of remittances on economic growth in India, Bangladesh, Sri‐Lanka and Nepal. These countries should create friendly policies to reduce the transaction cost to ensure the continuous inflows of workers' remittances.
• Results indicate a negative effect of remittances on economic growth in Pakistan. Remittances are considered an uninterrupted source of income, which may increase voluntary unemployment, leading to decreased economic growth. The government should make policies to discourage this voluntary unemployment.
• Policymakers should create effective systems to ensure this inflow comes through formal financial channels for better control.

     

Residential Remittances and Food Security in the Upper West Region of Ghana

In recent years, out migration from the Upper West Region to the southern belt of Ghana for farming has become commonplace. The natural question that has arisen is: what is the potential impact of remittances from this migration pattern on food security in the region? Using multivariate ordered logistic regression this study assesses the linkage between remittances and household food security (derived using the HFIAS) among urban and rural households (n=1,438) in the region. The findings show that urban remittance‐receiving households and rural remittance and non‐remittance receiving households were more likely (OR=2.44, p<0.05; OR=2.46, p<0.001; and OR=1.49, p<0.1, respectively) to report being more severely food‐insecure than urban non‐remittance receiving households. The findings demonstrate that household strategies such as migration and remittances on their own are not sufficient to ameliorate the precarious food insecurity situation of the region. The study calls for development of alternative livelihoods in the region.     

Factoring Turbulence Out: Diaspora Regulatory Mechanism and Migration Development Bank

The ongoing economic crisis has shifted much of the policy debate to problems of financial sector regulation, productive capacity collapse, among others. However, this leaves unattended the real situation with labour migration, which directly impacts social and economic inner components of being of millions of individual families across the world. The somewhat ad hoc nature of the process poses several policy issues for the home and host economies alike. Immediate concerns relate to streamlining migrants and remittances flows. This involves sensitive aspects of inequality in migrant workers’ labour efforts vis‐à‐vis domestic workers; migrants’ social and legal status; and less obvious, but still profound, unproductive misallocation of labour resources. Derived from this premise and recognizing the need for an institutional approach, this paper offers alternative policy solutions to temporary labour migration regulation. This research’s original propositions include a Diaspora Regulatory Mechanism and a Migration Development Bank, both operating within a state‐managed temporary labour migration regime. Fiscal action, including multilateral agreements, is crucial. The functionality of these mechanisms will directly impact infrastructure, human capital and entrepreneurial projects development in both home and host economies. Discussion is inspired by the analysis of actual circumstances in the economies of the Commonwealth of Independent States, where migration is a social, economic, and increasingly political issue. In the interlinked world, diasporas become dominant actors across all society strata. The development plateau of the post‐socialist states offers a rich economic and social soil to conduct responsible policy with future outlook. Moreover, conditions of ongoing economic crisis offer a unique opportunity for daring research to propose and for a motivated decisionmaker to implement original, proactive, and beneficial policy solutions aimed at streamlining the (temporary) labour migration process. This paper contributes to the emerging literature on topics of diaspora, labour migration, and remittance flows.     

Culture,Intermarriage, and Immigrant Women's Labor Supply

We examine the impact of culture on the work behaviour of second‐generation immigrant women in Canada. We contribute to the literature by analysing the role of intermarriage in intergenerational transmission of culture and its effect on labour market outcomes. Using female labour force participation and total fertility rates in the country of ancestry as cultural proxies, we find that culture affects the female labour supply. Cultural proxies are significant in explaining number of hours worked by second‐generation women with immigrant parents. The impact of culture is significantly larger for women with immigrant parents who share the same ethnic background than for those with intermarried parents. The weaker effect of culture for women raised in intermarried families stresses the importance of intermarriage in assimilation process. Our findings imply that government policies targeting women's labour supply may have differential effects on the labour market behaviour of immigrant women of different ancestries.

Policy Implications

• The result that culture has statistically significant impact on second‐generation immigrant women's labour supply has policy implications in terms of the government programmes and benefits that target the labour supply of women and immigration policies in general.
• Our findings imply that government policies targeting women's labour supply may have differential influence on the labour market behaviour of second‐generation immigrant women of different ancestries.

     

Migrant remittance flow: challenges and motivations in Isiekenesi Southern Nigeria

The study examined challenges of sending remittances and factors that motivate migrants to send remittances to Isiekenesi. Survey research design was adopted for the study. Using multi-stage sampling method for the quantitative data of the study, 402 questionnaires were distributed to the study participants and 395 were retrieved; 17 interviews and three focus group discussions (qualitative data) were conducted. Insecurity, the high cost of the transfer of remittances, lack of social amenities and so on were noted as challenges that undermine the flow of remittances to Isiekenesi. Factors that motivate migrants to send remittances to Isiekenesi are the desire to improve the family living standard, improved security in the home country, the need for recognition and the economic situation of the home country among others. Finally, the study has clearly shown that remittances in Isiekenesi are typically altruistic as migrants see it as a means of providing economic support to individual recipients at home to improve their living standard.