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Altruism and Workers' Remittances: Evidence from Selected Countries in the Middle East and Central Asia

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Author Info
Jacques Bouhga-Hagbe
Abstract

Workers' remittances have been playing an increasingly important role in the balance of payments of many countries and can significantly contribute to the strength of their external positions. Assessing the likely stability of remittance flows could be a valuable input to the analysis of their external vulnerabilities. This paper argues that "altruism," as a motive to send money home, would contribute to the stability of these flows. Using a simple framework that relates workers' remittances to agricultural GDP, which is used as an indicator of economic "hardship" in the home country, evidence suggests that altruism could have played an important role in the flow of remittances to Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan, and Tunisia in recent years.

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Paper provided by International Monetary Fund in its series IMF Working Papers with number 06/130.

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Length: 29 pages
Date of creation: 31 May 2006
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Handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:06/130

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Keywords: Remittances altruism co-integration Egypt Jordan Morocco Pakistan Tunisia Workers remittances Egypt Jordan Morocco Pakistan Tunisia Middle East and Central Asia Balance of payments positions

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  7. Russell, Sharon Stanton, 1986. "Remittances from international migration: A review in perspective," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 14(6), pages 677-696, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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    Other versions:
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    Other versions:
  20. Granger, C. W. J. & Newbold, P., 1974. "Spurious regressions in econometrics," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 111-120, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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