IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/jed/journl/v41y2016i1p1-18.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Cyclicality Of Remittances In Sub-Saharan Africa

Author

Listed:
  • EMMANUEL K.K. LARTEY

    (California State University, Fullerton, USA)

Abstract

This paper investigates the cyclicality of remittances to make inferences about whether they are sent for altruistic or self-interest reasons. The results show that remittances are procyclical, and therefore, do not support the general altruistic motive for sending remittances to sub-Saharan Africa. The results also do not lend credence to the portfolio choice hypothesis. Thus, the findings suggest that remittances to the sub-region may be driven by some other self-interest motives or family arrangements. These results, however, do not diminish the fact that remittances remain an important source of external finance to the sub-region, as evidenced in the literature.

Suggested Citation

  • Emmanuel K.K. Lartey, 2016. "The Cyclicality Of Remittances In Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 41(1), pages 1-18, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:jed:journl:v:41:y:2016:i:1:p:1-18
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.jed.or.kr/full-text/41-1/1.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. M. Piracha & Y. Zhu, 2012. "Precautionary savings by natives and immigrants in Germany," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(21), pages 2767-2776, July.
    2. Emmanuel K.K. Lartey, 2013. "Remittances, investment and growth in sub-Saharan Africa," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(7), pages 1038-1058, October.
    3. Rapoport, Hillel & Docquier, Frederic, 2006. "The Economics of Migrants' Remittances," Handbook on the Economics of Giving, Reciprocity and Altruism, in: S. Kolm & Jean Mercier Ythier (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Giving, Altruism and Reciprocity, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 17, pages 1135-1198, Elsevier.
    4. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    5. Donald Cox, 1990. "Intergenerational Transfers and Liquidity Constraints," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 105(1), pages 187-217.
    6. Bjuggren, Per-Olof & Dzansi, James & Shukur, Ghazi, 2010. "Remittances and Investment," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 216, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    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 901-918, October.
    8. Stark, Oded & Levhari, David, 1982. "On Migration and Risk in LDCs," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 31(1), pages 191-196, October.
    9. Yoko Niimi & Caglar Ozden & Maurice Schiff, 2010. "Remittances and the Brain Drain: Skilled Migrants Do Remit Less," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 97-98, pages 123-141.
    10. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    11. Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes & Susan Pozo, 2006. "Remittances as insurance: evidence from Mexican immigrants," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 19(2), pages 227-254, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bucevska Vesna, 2022. "Impact of Remittances on Economic Growth: Empirical Evidence from South-East European Countries," South East European Journal of Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 17(1), pages 79-94, June.
    2. Éric Rougier & Nicolas Yol, 2019. "The volatility effect of diaspora's location," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(6), pages 1796-1827, June.
    3. James Okrah & Alexander N. Nepp, 2022. "Mobile Money Services: An Enabler of Development Processes in Africa," Journal of Applied Economic Research, Graduate School of Economics and Management, Ural Federal University, vol. 21(4), pages 659-662.
    4. Abbas, Syed Ali & Selvanathan, Saroja & Selvanathan, Eliyathamby A., 2023. "Structural transformation, urbanization, and remittances in developing countries: A panel VAR analysis," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 55-69.
    5. Abbas, Syed Ali & Selvanathan, Eliyathamby A. & Selvanathan, Saroja & Bandaralage, Jayatilleke S., 2021. "Are remittances and foreign aid interlinked? Evidence from least developed and developing countries," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 265-275.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kaczmarczyk, Pawel, 2013. "Money for Nothing? Ukrainian Immigrants in Poland and their Remitting Behaviors," IZA Discussion Papers 7666, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. William Collier & Matloob Piracha & Teresa Randazzo, 2018. "Remittances and return migration," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 174-202, February.
    3. Matthieu Delpierre & Bertrand Verheyden, 2014. "Remittances, savings and return migration under uncertainty," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 3(1), pages 1-43, December.
    4. Dustmann, Christian & Mestres, Josep, 2010. "Remittances and temporary migration," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(1), pages 62-70, May.
    5. Deodat E. Adenutsi & Meshach J. Aziakpono & Matthew K. Ocran, 2011. "The Changing Impact Of Macroeconomic Environment On Remittance Inflows In Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Academic Research in Economics, Spiru Haret University, Faculty of Accounting and Financial Management Constanta, vol. 3(2 (July)), pages 136-167.
    6. Hagen-Zanker, Jessica, 2010. "Modest expectations: Causes and effects of migration on migrant households in source countries," MPRA Paper 29507, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Timo Baas & Silvia Maja Melzer, 2012. "The Macroeconomic Impact of Remittances: A sending country perspective," Norface Discussion Paper Series 2012021, Norface Research Programme on Migration, Department of Economics, University College London.
    8. Adams, Samuel & Klobodu, Edem Kwame Mensah, 2016. "Remittances, regime durability and economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 1-8.
    9. Emmanuel Owusu-Sekyere & Francis M. Kemegue & Reneé van Eyden, 2011. "What drives remittance inflows to Sub-Saharan Africa: A Dynamic Panel Approach," Working Papers 262, Economic Research Southern Africa.
    10. Sankar Mukhopadhyay & Miaomiao Zou, 2020. "Will Skill-Based Immigration Policies Lead to Lower Remittances? An Analysis of the Relations between Education, Sponsorship, and Remittances," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(3), pages 489-508, March.
    11. Cooray Arusha & Mallick Debdulal, 2013. "International business cycles and remittance flows," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 13(1), pages 1-33, September.
    12. Diego Alberto Sandoval Herrera & María Fernanda Reyes Roa, 2012. "¿Por qué los migrantes envían remesas?: Repaso de las principales motivaciones microeconómicas," Borradores de Economia 10036, Banco de la Republica.
    13. Bruno Emmanuel Ongo Nkoa & Jacques Simon Song & Blaise Ondoua Beyene & Georges Ngnouwal Eloundou, 2023. "Does social media drive remittances in Africa?," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 35(4), pages 429-443, December.
    14. Richter, Susan M., 2008. "The Insurance Role of Remittances on Household Credit Demand," 2008 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2008, Orlando, Florida 6261, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    15. Hrushikesh Mallick, 2017. "Determinants of workers’ remittances: An empirical investigation for a panel of eleven developing Asian economies," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(12), pages 2875-2900, December.
    16. Catia Batista & Janis Umblijs, 2016. "Do migrants send remittances as a way of self-insurance?," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 68(1), pages 108-130.
    17. Sèna Kimm Gnangnon, 2020. "Trade Openness and Diversification of External Financial Flows for Development: An Empirical Analysis," South Asian Journal of Macroeconomics and Public Finance, , vol. 9(1), pages 22-57, June.
    18. Naiditch, Claire & Vranceanu, Radu, 2011. "Remittances as a social status signaling device," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(4), pages 305-318, December.
    19. Nicole B. Simpson & Chad Sparber, 2020. "Estimating the Determinants of Remittances Originating from US Households Using CPS Data," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 46(1), pages 161-189, January.
    20. repec:dau:papers:123456789/5559 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Filiz Garip, 2012. "An Integrated Analysis of Migration and Remittances: Modeling Migration as a Mechanism for Selection," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 31(5), pages 637-663, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Remittances; Institutional Quality; GDP per Capita Growth; Sub-Saharan Africa;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • F24 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Remittances
    • F43 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Economic Growth of Open Economies
    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:jed:journl:v:41:y:2016:i:1:p:1-18. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    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 CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc 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 RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sung Y. Park (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/eccaukr.html .

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.