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Remittances and Business Cycles: Comparison of South Asian Countries

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  • Mazhar Y. Mughal
  • Junaid Ahmed

Abstract

South Asia is one of the world's principal remittance-receiving regions. This study examines the home and host business cycles of migrant remittance flows to the region. Employing the Structural Vector Autoregression (SVAR) technique, the remittance behaviour of the region's four main countries is compared. Remittances to India and Pakistan show a mainly acyclical behaviour with respect to the output of the four host regions, and a countercyclical behaviour with respect to home output. In contrast, remittances to the two smaller economies of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are found to be mainly procyclical. The study shows that the macroeconomic remittance behaviour varies with respect to the importance of remittance flows in the home economy. Moreover, remittance behaviour seems to respond more to home economy specificities than to those of the different regions that host the migrants from the developing countries.

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  • Mazhar Y. Mughal & Junaid Ahmed, 2014. "Remittances and Business Cycles: Comparison of South Asian Countries," International Economic Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(4), pages 513-541, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:intecj:v:28:y:2014:i:4:p:513-541
    DOI: 10.1080/10168737.2014.920895
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    Cited by:

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    2. Kim, Kijin & Ardaniel, Zemma & Kikkawa, Aiko & Endriga, Benjamin, 2022. "Bilateral Remittance Inflows to Asia and the Pacific: Countercyclicality and Motivations to Remit," ADBI Working Papers 1315, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    3. Le Thanh Tung, 2018. "The Impact Of Remittances On Domestic Investment In Developing Countries: Fresh Evidence From The Asia-Pacific Region," Organizations and Markets in Emerging Economies, Faculty of Economics, Vilnius University, vol. 9(2).
    4. Farid Makhlouf & Adil Naamane, 2013. "The Impact of Remittances on Economic Growth: The Evidence from Morocco," Working Papers hal-01885148, HAL.
    5. Immaculate Machasio & Peter Tillmann, 2023. "Remittance flows and US monetary policy," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 159(3), pages 545-561, August.
    6. Oussama Ben Atta & Kamal Kasmaoui & Mazhar Yasin Mughal & Farid Makhlouf, 2021. "More remittances, fewer kids—Impact of remittances on fertility in Morocco," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(8), pages 1238-1256, November.
    7. Ahmed, Junaid & Martinez-Zarzoso, Inmaculada, 2014. "What drives bilateral remittances to Pakistan? A gravity model approach," University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics 209, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    8. Ahmed, Junaid & Martinez-Zarzoso, Inmaculada, 2013. "Blessing or curse: The stabilizing role of remittances, foreign aid and FDI to Pakistan," University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics 153, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    9. P. Jijin & Alok Kumar Mishra & M. Nithin, 2022. "Macroeconomic determinants of remittances to India," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 1229-1248, May.
    10. Ahmed, Junaid & Martínez-Zarzoso, Inmaculada, 2015. "Do transfer costs matter for foreign remittances? A gravity model approach," Economics Discussion Papers 2015-12, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    11. Genc, Ismail H., 2022. "Are Indian Subcontinent remittance markets connected to each other?," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    12. Immaculate Machasio & Peter Tillmann, 2021. "Remittance Flows and U.S. Monetary Policy," MAGKS Papers on Economics 202140, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    13. Junaid Ahmed & Inmaculada Martinez-Zarzoso, 2016. "Blessing or Curse," Journal of South Asian Development, , vol. 11(1), pages 38-66, April.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • F24 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Remittances

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