IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jintdv/v33y2021i2p360-381.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How do migration and remittances affect inequality? A case study of Mexico

Author

Listed:
  • Zsóka Kóczán
  • Franz Loyola

Abstract

The poverty‐reducing effects of remittances have been well documented; however, their effects on inequality are less clear. This paper examines the impact of remittances on inequality in Mexico using household‐level information on the receiving side. It hopes to speak to their insurance role by examining how remittances are affected by domestic and external crises: the 1994 Mexican peso crisis and the global financial crisis. We find that remittances lower inequality and that they become more pro‐poor over time. This also strengthens their insurance effects, mitigating some of the negative impact of shocks on the poorest.

Suggested Citation

  • Zsóka Kóczán & Franz Loyola, 2021. "How do migration and remittances affect inequality? A case study of Mexico," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(2), pages 360-381, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jintdv:v:33:y:2021:i:2:p:360-381
    DOI: 10.1002/jid.3526
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/jid.3526
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/jid.3526?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Adams, Richard H, Jr & Alderman, Harold, 1992. "Sources of Income Inequality in Rural Pakistan: A Decomposition Analysis," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 54(4), pages 591-608, November.
    2. International Monetary Fund, 2005. "Mexico: 2005 Article IV Consultation Staff Report; Staff Statement; Public Information Notice on the Executive Board Discussion; and Statement by the Executive Director for Mexico," IMF Staff Country Reports 2005/427, International Monetary Fund.
    3. Flore Gubert & Thomas Lassourd & Sandrine Mesplé-Somps, 2010. "Do remittances affect poverty and inequality? Evidence from Mali," Working Papers DT/2010/08, DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation).
    4. Adams, Richard H. Jr., 2006. "Remittances and poverty in Ghana," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3838, The World Bank.
    5. Chakra P. ACHARYA & Roberto LEON-GONZALEZ, 2013. "The Impact of Remittance on Poverty and Inequality: A Micro-Simulation Study for Nepal," Asian Journal of Empirical Research, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 3(9), pages 1061-1080, September.
    6. Jamal Bouoiyour & Amal Miftah, 2014. "The effects of remittances on poverty and inequality: Evidence from rural southern Morocco," Working Papers hal-01880333, HAL.
    7. Giuliano, Paola & Ruiz-Arranz, Marta, 2009. "Remittances, financial development, and growth," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(1), pages 144-152, September.
    8. Fox, Jonathan A & Bada, Xochitl, 2008. "Migrant Organization and Hometown Impacts in Rural Mexico," Center for Global, International and Regional Studies, Working Paper Series qt7jc3t42v, Center for Global, International and Regional Studies, UC Santa Cruz.
    9. Jamal Bouoiyour & Amal Miftah, 2014. "The effects of remittances on poverty and inequality: Evidence from rural southern Morocco," Working Papers hal-01880333, HAL.
    10. Richard P.C. Brown & Eliana Jimenez, 2008. "Estimating the net effects of migration and remittances on poverty and inequality: comparison of Fiji and Tonga," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(4), pages 547-571.
    11. Aparicio, Francisco Javier & Meseguer, Covadonga, 2012. "Collective Remittances and the State: The 3×1 Program in Mexican Municipalities," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 206-222.
    12. Ms. Kimberly Beaton & Ms. Svetlana Cerovic & Misael Galdamez & Metodij Hadzi-Vaskov & Franz Loyola & Zsoka Koczan & Mr. Bogdan Lissovolik & Mr. Jan Kees Martijn & Ms. Yulia Ustyugova & Joyce Wong, 2017. "Migration and Remittances in Latin America and the Caribbean: Engines of Growth and Macroeconomic Stabilizers?," IMF Working Papers 2017/144, International Monetary Fund.
    13. David Margolis & Luis Miotti & El Mouhoub Mouhoud & Joël Oudinet, 2013. ""To Have and Have Not": Migration, Remittances, Poverty and Inequality in Algeria," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) hal-00907035, HAL.
    14. Dilip K. Ratha & Supriyo De & Ervin Dervisevic & Sonia Plaza & Kirsten Schuettler & William Shaw & Hanspeter Wyss & Soonhwa Yi & Seyed Reza Yousefi, 2015. "Migration and Remittances," World Bank Publications - Reports 25478, The World Bank Group.
    15. Acosta, Pablo & Calderon, Cesar & Fajnzylber, Pablo & Lopez, Humberto, 2008. "What is the Impact of International Remittances on Poverty and Inequality in Latin America?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 89-114, January.
    16. Amar Iqbal Anwar & Mazhar Mughal, 2012. "Remittances, inequality and poverty in Pakistan: macro and microeconomic Evidence [Centre d'Analyse Théorique et de Traitement des données économiques REMITTANCES, INEQUALITY AND POVERTY IN PAKISTA," Working papers of CATT hal-01885153, HAL.
    17. Judith Möllers & Wiebke Meyer, 2014. "The effects of migration on poverty and inequality in rural Kosovo," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 3(1), pages 1-18, December.
    18. Adams, Richard H., Jr. & Cuecuecha, Alfredo & Page, John, 2008. "The impact of remittances on poverty and inequality in Ghana," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4732, The World Bank.
    19. Amar Iqbal Anwar & Mazhar Mughal, 2012. "Remittances, inequality and poverty in Pakistan: macro and microeconomic Evidence [Centre d'Analyse Théorique et de Traitement des données économiques REMITTANCES, INEQUALITY AND POVERTY IN PAKISTA," Working papers of CATT hal-01885153, HAL.
    20. Mines, Richard, 1981. "Developing a Community Tradition of Migration: A Field Study in rural Zacatecas, Mexico, and California Settlement Areas," University of California at San Diego, Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies qt72n33714, Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies, UC San Diego.
    21. Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes & Cynthia Bansak & Susan Pozo, 2005. "On the remitting patterns of immigrants: evidence from Mexican survey data," Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, vol. 90(Q 1), pages 37-58.
    22. repec:dau:papers:123456789/13287 is not listed on IDEAS
    23. Stark, Oded & Taylor, J. Edward & Yitzhaki, Shlomo, 1988. "Migration, remittances and inequality : A sensitivity analysis using the extended Gini index," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 309-322, May.
    24. repec:hal:pseose:hal-00907035 is not listed on IDEAS
    25. Barham, Bradford & Boucher, Stephen, 1998. "Migration, remittances, and inequality: estimating the net effects of migration on income distribution," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 307-331, April.
    26. Berhe Mekonnen Beyene, 2014. "The Effects of International Remittances on Poverty and Inequality in Ethiopia," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(10), pages 1380-1396, November.
    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. Khadija Shams & Alexander Kadow, 2020. "Income inequality, remittances and economic wellbeing in rural Pakistan: linkages and empirical evidence," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 4(2), pages 499-519, June.
    2. Hackl, Andreas, 2018. "Mobility equity in a globalized world: Reducing inequalities in the sustainable development agenda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 150-162.
    3. Selçuk Akçay, 2022. "Remittances and income inequality in the Philippines," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 36(1), pages 30-47, May.
    4. Richard Disney & Andy McKay & C Rashaad Shabab, 2023. "Household inequality and remittances in rural Thailand: a life-cycle perspective," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 75(2), pages 418-443.
    5. Joel Oudinet, 2021. "L’impact de la migration sur le développement inclusif," Post-Print hal-04065384, HAL.
    6. Joel OUDINET, 2021. "Introduction - L’impact de la migration sur le développement inclusif," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 53, pages 5-21.
    7. Björn Nilsson & Racha Ramadan, 2020. "Migration and Inequalities Around the Mediterranean Sea," Working Papers 1390, Economic Research Forum, revised 20 Apr 2020.
    8. Disney, Richard & Mckay, Andy & Shabab, C Rashaad, 2023. "Household inequality and remittances in rural Thailand: a life-cycle perspective," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 121207, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

    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. Ms. Kimberly Beaton & Ms. Svetlana Cerovic & Misael Galdamez & Metodij Hadzi-Vaskov & Franz Loyola & Zsoka Koczan & Mr. Bogdan Lissovolik & Mr. Jan Kees Martijn & Ms. Yulia Ustyugova & Joyce Wong, 2017. "Migration and Remittances in Latin America and the Caribbean: Engines of Growth and Macroeconomic Stabilizers?," IMF Working Papers 2017/144, International Monetary Fund.
    2. Nimesh Salike & Jingyi Wang & Paulo Regis, 2022. "Remittance and its Effect on Poverty and Inequality: A Case of Nepal," NRB Economic Review, Nepal Rastra Bank, Economic Research Department, vol. 34(2), pages 1-29, October.
    3. Coulibaly, Issiaka & Dembélé, Moustapha, 2024. "Impacts of remittances from internal and international migrants on poverty and inequality in Mali," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    4. Boburmirzo Ibrokhimov & Rashid Javed & Mazhar Mughal, 2023. "Migrants remittances and fertility in the Post-Soviet states," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(6), pages 574-596, August.
    5. Bang, James T. & Mitra, Aniruddha & Wunnava, Phanindra V., 2016. "Do remittances improve income inequality? An instrumental variable quantile analysis of the Kenyan case," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 394-402.
    6. Yaya Keho, 2017. "Effect of remittances on household consumption in African and Asian countries: A quantile regression approach," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 37(3), pages 1753-1767.
    7. Maëlan LE GOFF & Christian EBEKE, 2009. "Why Migrants' Remittances Reduce Income Inequality in some Countries and not in Others?," Working Papers 200919, CERDI.
    8. Vacaflores, Diego E., 2018. "Are remittances helping lower poverty and inequality levels in Latin America?," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 254-265.
    9. David Margolis & Luis Miotti & El Mouhoub Mouhoud & Joël Oudinet, 2013. ""To Have and Have Not": Migration, Remittances, Poverty and Inequality in Algeria," CEPN Working Papers hal-00907035, HAL.
    10. Farid Makhlouf & Adil Naamane, 2013. "The Impact of Remittances on Economic Growth: The Evidence from Morocco," Working Papers hal-01885148, HAL.
    11. Gamel Abdul-Nasser Salifu, 2021. "Picking the Right Arrow for the Target: Modelling the Economic Impact of Remittance on Agribusinesss Entreprenuership and Youth Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa," Business and Management Research, Business and Management Research, Sciedu Press, vol. 10(1), pages 1-18, March.
    12. Loxha Arbëresha, 2019. "Do Remittances reduce poverty in Kosovo? - A counterfactual analysis," South East European Journal of Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 14(2), pages 117-132, December.
    13. Petreski, Marjan & Jovanovic, Branimir, 2013. "Do Remittances Reduce Poverty and Inequality in the Western Balkans? Evidence from Macedonia," MPRA Paper 51413, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. SeyedSoroosh Azizi, 2021. "The impacts of workers’ remittances on poverty and inequality in developing countries," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(2), pages 969-991, February.
    15. repec:hal:pseose:hal-00907035 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Selçuk Akçay, 2022. "Remittances and income inequality in the Philippines," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 36(1), pages 30-47, May.
    17. Beyene, Berhe Mekonnen, 2012. "The Effects of International Remittances on Poverty and Inequality in Ethiopia," Memorandum 13/2012, Oslo University, Department of Economics.
    18. Adenutsi, Deodat E., 2011. "Do remittances alleviate poverty and income inequality in poor countries? Empirical evidence from sub-Saharan Africa," MPRA Paper 37130, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Song, Yuegang & Paramati, Sudharshan Reddy & Ummalla, Mallesh & Zakari, Abdulrasheed & Kummitha, Harshavardhan Reddy, 2021. "The effect of remittances and FDI inflows on income distribution in developing economies," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 255-267.
    20. Chakra P ACHARYA & Roberto LEON-GONZALEZ, 2013. "The Impact of Remittance on Poverty and Inequality: A Micro-Simulation Study for Nepal," Asian Journal of Empirical Research, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 3(9), pages 1061-1080.
    21. Majeed, Muhammad Tariq, 2015. "Distributional Consequences of Remittances: Evidence from Sixty-Five Developing Countries," MPRA Paper 88673, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2016.

    More about this item

    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:wly:jintdv:v:33:y:2021:i:2:p:360-381. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/5102/home .

    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.