IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v37y2009i1p93-103.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Determinants of International Remittances in Developing Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Adams Jr., Richard H.

Abstract

Summary What causes developing countries to receive different levels of international remittances? This paper addresses this question by using new data on such variables as the skill composition of migrants, poverty, and interest and exchange rates to examine the determinants of remittances. The paper finds that the skill composition of migrants does matter in remittance determination. Countries which export a larger share of high-skilled (educated) migrants receive less per capita remittances than countries which export a larger proportion of low-skilled migrants. It also finds that the level of poverty in a labor-sending country does not have a positive impact on the level of remittances received.

Suggested Citation

  • Adams Jr., Richard H., 2009. "The Determinants of International Remittances in Developing Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 93-103, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:37:y:2009:i:1:p:93-103
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305-750X(08)00136-8
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Banerjee, Biswajit, 1984. "The probability, size and uses of remittances from urban to rural areas in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 293-311, December.
    2. Freund, Caroline & Spatafora, Nikola, 2005. "Remittances : transaction costs, determinants, and informal flows," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3704, The World Bank.
    3. Adams, Richard H. Jr., 2004. "Remittances and poverty in Guatemala," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3418, The World Bank.
    4. Cox, Donald & Eser, Zekeriya & Jimenez, Emmanuel, 1998. "Motives for private transfers over the life cycle: An analytical framework and evidence for Peru," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 57-80, February.
    5. Riccardo Faini, 2007. "Remittances and the Brain Drain: Do More Skilled Migrants Remit More?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 21(2), pages 177-191, May.
    6. Andrew D. Foster & Mark R. Rosenzweig, 2001. "Imperfect Commitment, Altruism, And The Family: Evidence From Transfer Behavior In Low-Income Rural Areas," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 83(3), pages 389-407, August.
    7. Riccardo Faini, 2003. "The Brain Drain: an Unmitigated Blessing?," Development Working Papers 173, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano.
    8. Pablo Acosta & Cesar Calderón & Pablo Fajnzylber & Humberto López, 2006. "Remittances and Development in Latin America," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(7), pages 957-987, July.
    9. 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.
    10. Richard H. Adams, 2006. "International Remittances and the Household: Analysis and Review of Global Evidence," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 15(2), pages 396-425, December.
    11. Matthew Higgins & Alketa Hysenbegasi & Susan Pozo, 2004. "Exchange-rate uncertainty and workers' remittances," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(6), pages 403-411.
    12. Nicholas P. Glytsos, 1997. "Remitting Behaviour of “Temporary” and “Permanent” Migrants: The Case of Greeks in Germany and Australia," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 11(3), pages 409-435, November.
    13. Ilahi, Nadeem & Jafarey, Saqib, 1999. "Guestworker migration, remittances and the extended family: evidence from Pakistan," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 485-512, April.
    14. El-Sakka, M. I. T. & McNabb, Robert, 1999. "The Macroeconomic Determinants of Emigrant Remittances," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(8), pages 1493-1502, August.
    15. 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.
    16. Niimi, Yoko & Ozden, Caglar, 2006. "Migration and remittances : causes and linkages," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4087, The World Bank.
    17. Agarwal, Reena & Horowitz, Andrew W., 2002. "Are International Remittances Altruism or Insurance? Evidence from Guyana Using Multiple-Migrant Households," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(11), pages 2033-2044, November.
    18. Faini, Riccardo, 1994. "Workers Remittances and the Real Exchange Rate: A Quantitative Framework," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 7(2), pages 235-245.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Adams, Richard H., Jr., 2008. "The demographic, economic and financial determinants of international remittances in developing countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4583, The World Bank.
    2. Ibrahim Sirkeci & Jeffrey H. Cohen & Dilip Ratha, 2012. "Migration and Remittances during the Global Financial Crisis and Beyond," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 13092.
    3. 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.
    4. Sule Akkoyunlu, 2010. "Are Turkish Migrants Altruistic?," KOF Working papers 10-246, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich.
    5. Sule Akkoyunlu & Konstantin A. Kholodilin, 2006. "What Affects the Remittances of Turkish Workers: Turkish or German Output?," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 622, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    6. Junaid Ahmed & Mazhar Mughal & Inmaculada Martínez‐Zarzoso, 2021. "Sending money home: Transaction cost and remittances to developing countries," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(8), pages 2433-2459, August.
    7. Giulia Bettin & Riccardo Lucchetti & Alberto Zazzaro, 2009. "Income, consumption and remittances: evidence from immigrants to Australia," Mo.Fi.R. Working Papers 34, Money and Finance Research group (Mo.Fi.R.) - Univ. Politecnica Marche - Dept. Economic and Social Sciences.
    8. Kim, Jounghyeon, 2023. "Does population aging matter for remittances in developing countries?," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 1038-1056.
    9. Dustmann, Christian & Mestres, Josep, 2010. "Remittances and temporary migration," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(1), pages 62-70, May.
    10. repec:dau:papers:123456789/5559 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. 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.
    12. Giulia Bettin & Andrea F. Presbitero & Nikola L. Spatafora, 2017. "Remittances and Vulnerability in Developing Countries," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 31(1), pages 1-23.
    13. Imene Guetat & Dorsaf Sridi, 2017. "Institutional quality effect on remittances in MENA region," Middle East Development Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(1), pages 84-100, January.
    14. Jamal Bouoiyour & Amal Miftah, 2014. "Why do migrants remit? An insightful analysis for Moroccan case," Working papers of CATT hal-01880332, HAL.
    15. Jamal Bouoiyour & Amal Miftah, 2014. "Why do migrants remit? An insightful analysis for Moroccan case," Working Papers hal-01880332, HAL.
    16. Luis Miotti & El Mouhoub Mouhoud & Joel Oudinet, 2009. "Migrations And Determinants Of Remittances To Southern Mediterranean Countries: When History Matters !," Post-Print hal-00483303, HAL.
    17. repec:dau:papers:123456789/2574 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. 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.
    19. Meyer, Wiebke, 2012. "Motives for remitting from Germany to Kosovo," Studies on the Agricultural and Food Sector in Transition Economies, Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO), volume 69, number 69.
    20. Niimi, Yoko & Ozden, Caglar, 2006. "Migration and remittances : causes and linkages," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4087, The World Bank.
    21. 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.
    22. Patrick GUILLAUMONT & Maëlan LE GOFF, 2010. "Aid and remittances: their stabilizing impact compared," Working Papers P12, FERDI.

    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:eee:wdevel:v:37:y:2009:i:1:p:93-103. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    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.