Advanced Search
MyIDEAS: Login

Repeat migration and remittances: Evidence from Thai migrant workers

Contents:

Author Info

  • Lee, Sang-Hyop
  • Sukrakarn, Nopparat
  • Choi, Jin-Young
Registered author(s):

    Abstract

    Although there is a growing body of literature on repeat migration in the Americas and Europe, no empirical evidence exists in Asia. This paper examines the remittances and savings behavior of repeat migrants, using a special survey on Thai migrants in six major destination countries, conducted by the Asian Research Center for Migration (ARCM) at Chulalongkorn University. The results show that repeated migrants are a highly specific group. Males are more likely to repeat migration, compared with their female counterparts. Repeat migration is strongly correlated with age, which shows an inverted U-shape. Repeat migrants are less likely to send remittances, but more likely to save, compared with first-time migrants. This finding is consistent with the notion that first-time migrant workers remit most of their earned income to Thailand, while those who repeat migration prefer to keep their money rather than remitting it.

    Download Info

    If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6W53-51T82NF-1/2/6c7ecccba61eb081c6a1c8a41a62b5ba
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.

    Bibliographic Info

    Article provided by Elsevier in its journal Journal of Asian Economics.

    Volume (Year): 22 (2011)
    Issue (Month): 2 (April)
    Pages: 142-151

    as in new window
    Handle: RePEc:eee:asieco:v:22:y:2011:i:2:p:142-151

    Contact details of provider:
    Web page: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/asieco

    Related research

    Keywords: Repeat migration Remittance decay Thai migrants;

    References

    References listed on IDEAS
    Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
    as in new window
    1. Constant, Amelie F. & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 2003. "The Dynamics of Repeat Migration: A Markov Chain Analysis," IZA Discussion Papers 885, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
    2. Constant, Amelie F. & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 2007. "Circular Migration: Counts of Exits and Years Away from the Host Country," IZA Discussion Papers 2999, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
    3. Gang, Ira N. & Bauer, Thomas K., 1998. "Temporary Migrants From Egypt: How Long Do They Stay Abroad?," IZA Discussion Papers 3, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
    4. Dustmann, Christian, 1997. "Return migration, uncertainty and precautionary savings," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 295-316, April.
    5. Christian Dustmann, 2003. "Children and return migration," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 815-830, November.
    6. Merkle, Lucie & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 1992. "Savings, remittances, and return migration," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 77-81, January.
    7. Lucas, Robert E B & Stark, Oded, 1985. "Motivations to Remit: Evidence from Botswana," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 93(5), pages 901-18, October.
    8. Ira N. Gang & Catherine Y. Co & Myeong-Su Yun, 1999. "Returns to Returning," Departmental Working Papers 199813, Rutgers University, Department of Economics.
    9. Donald Cox & Zekeriya Eser & Emmanuel Jimenez, 1996. "Motives for Private Transfers over the Life Cycle: An Analytical Framework and Evidence for Peru," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 327., Boston College Department of Economics.
    10. Elke Holst & Mechthild Schrooten, 2006. "Migration and Money - What Determines Remittances?: Evidence from Germany," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 566, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    11. Agarwal, Reena & Horowitz, Andrew W., 2002. "Are International Remittances Altruism or Insurance? Evidence from Guyana Using Multiple-Migrant Households," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(11), pages 2033-2044, November.
    12. Dennis Ahlburg & Richard Brown, 1998. "Migrants' intentions to return home and capital transfers: A study of Tongans and Samoans in Australia," The Journal of Development Studies, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 35(2), pages 125-151.
    13. Vadean, Florin & Piracha, Matloob, 2009. "Circular Migration or Permanent Return: What Determines Different Forms of Migration?," IZA Discussion Papers 4287, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
    14. Qiming Liu & Barry Reilly, 2004. "Income transfers of Chinese rural migrants: some empirical evidence from Jinan," Applied Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 36(12), pages 1295-1313.
    15. Galor, Oded & Stark, Oded, 1991. "The probability of return migration, migrants' work effort, and migrants' performance," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 399-405, April.
    16. Alice Mesnard, 2004. "Temporary migration and capital market imperfections," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 56(2), pages 242-262, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Lists

    This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:asieco:v:22:y:2011:i:2:p:142-151

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Wendy Shamier).

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

    If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.