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Remittances and Institutions: Are Remittances a Curse?

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  • Jihad Dagher
  • Ralph Chami
  • Peter Montiel
  • Yasser Abdih

Abstract

This paper addresses the complex and overlooked relationship between the receipt of workers' remittances and institutional quality in the recipient country. Using a simple model, we show how an increase in remittance inflows can lead to deterioration of institutional quality - specifically, to an increase in the share of funds diverted by the government for its own purposes. Empirical testing of this proposition is complicated by the likelihood of reverse causality. In a cross section of 111 countries we document a negative impact of the ratio of remittance inflows to GDP on domestic institutional quality, even after controlling for potential reverse causality. We find that a higher ratio of remittances to GDP is associated with lower indices of control of corruption, government effectiveness, and rule of law.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by International Monetary Fund in its series IMF Working Papers with number 08/29.

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Length: 78
Date of creation: 01 Feb 2008
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:08/29

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Keywords: Workers remittances; Economic growth;

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References

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  1. La Porta, Rafael & Lopez-de-Silanes, Florencio & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert, 1999. "The Quality of Government," Journal of Law, Economics and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 15(1), pages 222-79, April.
  2. Rafael Di Tella & Alberto Ades, 1999. "Rents, Competition, and Corruption," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(4), pages 982-993, September.
  3. Aggarwal, Reena & Demirguc-Kunt, Asli & Martinez Peria, Maria Soledad, 2006. "Do workers'remittances promote financial development ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3957, The World Bank.
  4. Arvind Subramanian & Xavier Sala-i-Martin, 2003. "Addressing the Natural Resource Curse: An Illustration from Nigeria," IMF Working Papers 03/139, International Monetary Fund.
  5. Beine, Michel & Docquier, Frédéric & Rapoport, Hillel, 2003. "Brain Drain and LDCs' Growth: Winners and Losers," IZA Discussion Papers 819, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  6. Douglas Staiger & James H. Stock, 1997. "Instrumental Variables Regression with Weak Instruments," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(3), pages 557-586, May.
  7. Michael T. Gapen & Thomas F. Cosimano & Ralph Chami, 2006. "Beware of Emigrants Bearing Gifts: Optimal Fiscal and Monetary Policy in the Presence of Remittances," IMF Working Papers 06/61, International Monetary Fund.
  8. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson & James A. Robinson, 2001. "The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(5), pages 1369-1401, December.
  9. Acosta, Pablo A. & Lartey, Emmanuel K.K. & Mandelman, Federico S., 2009. "Remittances and the Dutch disease," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(1), pages 102-116, September.
  10. Cai, Hongbin & Treisman, Daniel, 2004. "State corroding federalism," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(3-4), pages 819-843, March.
  11. Treisman, Daniel, 2000. "The causes of corruption: a cross-national study," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(3), pages 399-457, June.
  12. Ralph Chami & Connel Fullenkamp & Samir Jahjah, 2005. "Are Immigrant Remittance Flows a Source of Capital for Development?," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 52(1), pages 55-81, April.
  13. James M. Poterba & Julio J. Rotemberg, 1990. "Inflation And Taxation With Optimizing Governments," NBER Working Papers 2567, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  14. Gallup, J.L. & Sachs, J.D. & Mullinger, A., 1999. "Geography and Economic Development," Papers 1, Chicago - Graduate School of Business.
  15. Marcelo J. Moreira, 2003. "A Conditional Likelihood Ratio Test for Structural Models," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(4), pages 1027-1048, 07.
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Citations

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Cited by:
  1. Christian Ebeke, 2011. "The power of Remittances on the Prevalence of Child Labor," Working Papers halshs-00554258, HAL.
  2. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:30:y:2010:i:1:p:351-364 is not listed on IDEAS
  3. Christian EBEKE & Jean-Louis COMBES, 2010. "Remittances and Household Consumption Instability in Developing Countries," Working Papers 201015, CERDI.
  4. Ralph Chami & Dalia Hakura & Peter Montiel, 2010. "Do Worker Remittances Reduce Output Volatility in Developing Countries?," Department of Economics Working Papers 2010-19, Department of Economics, Williams College.
  5. Yasser Abdih & Ralph Chami & Christian Ebeke & Adolfo Barajas, 2012. "Remittances Channel and Fiscal Impact in the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia," IMF Working Papers 12/104, International Monetary Fund.
  6. Sami Ben Mim (ERUDITE) & Fatma Mabrouk (GREThA, CNRS, UMR 5113), 2011. "Remittances and economic growth: what channels of transmission? (In French)," Cahiers du GREThA 2011-28, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée.
  7. Christian EBEKE, 2010. "Transferts des migrants, ouverture sur l'ext�rieur et d�penses publiques dans les pays en d�veloppement," Working Papers 201011, CERDI.
  8. Bettin, Giulia & Lucchetti, Riccardo & Zazzaro, Alberto, 2009. "Income, consumption and remittances: Evidence from immigrants to Australia," HWWI Research Papers 3-21, Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWI).
  9. Michael T. Gapen & Ralph Chami & Peter Montiel & Adolfo Barajas & Connel Fullenkamp, 2009. "Do Workers' Remittances Promote Economic Growth?," IMF Working Papers 09/153, International Monetary Fund.
  10. Ratha, Dilip & Mohapatra, Sanket & Scheja, Elina, 2011. "Impact of migration on economic and social development : a review of evidence and emerging issues," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5558, The World Bank.
  11. Jeffrey A. Edwards & Jennis J. Biser, 2011. "The interactive effect of remittances and civil liberties on investment and consumption," International Journal of Development Issues, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 10(1), pages 20-33, April.
  12. Dalia Hakura & Ralph Chami & Peter Montiel, 2009. "Remittances: An Automatic Output Stabilizer?," IMF Working Papers 09/91, International Monetary Fund.

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