International remittances and political participation in Ghana

Abstract

The relationship between international remittances and political participation remains unsettled. Studies based on the resource model of participation suggest that remittances are associated with an increase in political participation. In contrast, the insulation model of participation posits that remittances are associated with the likelihood of a decreased political engagement. While most studies have explored this topic using conventional measures of political participation, such as voting, protests, and contacting government officials, we expand the concept of political participation to include media contact. This form of participation has recently gained relevance in both the developed and developing world. Utilizing the 6th and 7th rounds of the Afrobarometer survey and employing matching methods, we explore whether the treatment of receiving remittances stimulates political engagements through contacting the media in Ghana. We find that remittance recipients are more likely to participate in governance by contacting the media, through actions such as calling a radio program or writing a letter to a newspaper to request action from the government. This finding suggests that an adverse exogenous shock to remittances may decrease the likelihood of political activism in households. With recent calls for accountability of governments in developing countries, media engagement of citizens could be an important channel through which citizens hold their governments accountable. As such, our finding has strong policy implications because if remittance engenders media engagement, then it also encourages good governance.