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Neither by Land nor by Sea : The Rise of Electronic Remittances during COVID-19

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  • Dinarte Diaz,Lelys Ileana
  • Jaume,David Jose
  • Medina-Cortina,Eduardo
  • Winkler,Hernan

Abstract

Despite concerns that the COVID-19 economic collapse would torpedo international remittances,formal remittances to several developing countries ballooned early in the pandemic. This increase might, however, havereflected a shift from informal channels to formal ones rather than a change in actual flows. This paper employsMexican data to explore this and finds that remittance channels did change. The rise in formal inflows was largeramong municipalities that were previously more reliant on informal channels (for example, near a border crossing).Households there also experienced a disproportionate increase in bank accounts opened after lockdown measures.The paper also rules out hypotheses related to the US Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Actand altruism.

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  • Dinarte Diaz,Lelys Ileana & Jaume,David Jose & Medina-Cortina,Eduardo & Winkler,Hernan, 2022. "Neither by Land nor by Sea : The Rise of Electronic Remittances during COVID-19," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10057, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10057
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