The impact of international and internal remittances on household welfare: Evidence from Viet Nam

Abstract

Using data from the Viet Nam household living standard surveys of 2002 and 2004, this paper measures the impact of international and internal remittances on the household welfare of remittance-receiving households. It finds that both the income and the consumption expenditures of the recipients increased as a result of international and internal remittances. The impact of remittances on non-food expenditures tended to be greater than the impact on food expenditures. For international remittances, the impact on income was much greater than the impact on consumption expenditures, meaning that a large proportion of international remittances were used for savings and investment. The impact of internal remittances on income was slightly greater than the impact on consumption expenditures. In other words, most of the internal remittances were used for consumption expenditures.