Globalization and Citizenship in the Asia-Pacific

Abstract

This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the economics literature on the remittances of international migrants, focusing primarily on empirical studies of their measurement, determinants, and various economic impacts. Given that remittances by international migrants require out-migration to have occurred, one of the major methodological challenges is how to disentangle the effects of migration versus remittances on the economic variables of interest. The various methodological challenges and alternative methodological approaches to the analysis of remittances are also discussed.The chapter begins with a background to the relatively recent interest in remittances in the international economics literature and an examination of the official estimates of the magnitudes and trends of global remittance flows and their size and relative stability in comparison with other international financial flows, combined with a discussion of the various forms that remittances take, the different channels and transfer modes used by migrants, and the different categories of recipient.The chapter then examines the literature on the determinants of remittances and their effects on the recipient households and economies. While the theoretical and empirical literature on the determinants of remittances has been primarily of micro-level analytical concern, the impacts of remittances have been analyzed at both the micro- and macro-levels. The perspective and criteria in terms of which the impact of remittances is assessed accordingly differs between most macro- and micro-level analyses.In the final section policy implications in both source and host countries are discussed.