Remittance Recipient Households Research Articles

Use of remittance and Coronavirus pandemic in Nepal

Remittance based economy of Nepal has been badly affected by the Corona virus pandemic. In this study, we analyze the household and social level use of remittance by the remittance recipient households before and after the pandemic. We adopted cross-sectional study design to collect data from 777 randomly selected respondents residing in Chautara Sngachwokgadhi (Mountain region), Galkot(Hill) and Mithila (Tarai) municipalities in Nepal. We used a reliable questionnaire tool having 0.8 cronbachalpha, and we visited the respondents from 6th June- 18th October 2022. The study found that the remittance recipient households have good access to households, educational, financial and health facilities. A significant amount of remittance also has been used to donate to the youth club, medical treatment seeker, school/college and community level (public moral hazard) after the Coronavirus pandemic. Remittance and agriculture were the major source of family income in each ecological region. However, remittance has failed to increase agriculture production and distributions (domestic household hazard) and also failed to increase entrepreneurship development in the local levels. This study can be a reference for developing evidence-based policies for minimizing public moral hazard and domestic household hazards caused by remittance in developing countries like Nepal.

Socio-Economic Consequences of Remittance on Households in Pokhara Valley

There has been a continuous discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of the continuously increasing remittance flows. On the one hand, few studies in different parts of the world have noted that remittances have increased conspicuous consumption and decreased the Labour supply for farming and agriculture. Instead, several others have shown how enhancing food, health, and education can help recipient households’ quality of life. Thus, this study aims to analyze the socio-economic consequences of remittance on households in Pokhara Valley Through the use of a structured questionnaire, data on how much money families who receive and do not receive remittances spend and invest on a variety of household activities, such as food, children’s health, education, consumer goods, and asset investment, were collected, compared and analyzed using various statistical tools like frequencies, mean, standard deviation and independent samples t-test. The association of the two categories of households of the study on involvement in agriculture and farming was examined using the chi-square test. The study has shown that the remittance income has increased the purchasing power of remittance-receiving households which has led to an increment in the spending capacity of those households. The results indicate that remittance positively affects the improvement of human capital as the remittance recipient households spend more on family members’ education and health services than remittance non-recipient households do. However, remittance has also resulted in conspicuous consumption and higher spending on non-productive activities. In addition, it has adversely affected the participation of recipient families on involvement in agriculture and farming, ultimately necessitating the importation of food grains. On this basis, it is recommended that the government should develop measures that can stimulate remittance recipient families on remittance investments in the development of the domestic economy, national output, and agricultural production rather than spending on unproductive activities.

Consumption Over Life Cycle Of Remittances Recipients In Indonesia

Purpose of this study is to examine and analyze the consumption patterns of remittance recipient households using the Life Cycle Hypothesis (LCH) model. Using data from three periods of the IFLS (IFLS 2000, IFLS 2007 and IFLS 2014) and the decomposition of cohort and age effects on consumption, the results show that consumption behavior is not as described as in the LCH theory. The curve of average consumption-age in this remittance recipient household has a "hump shape" pattern.

International Migration from Rural Punjab- An Analysis

This study is designed to analyze the overall causes and impacts of migration. This study examines those determinants of international migration which inspire the people of low income in less developed countries to migrate to high income developed countries. This Research is purely based on primary data which has been collected from the fifteen villages of two districts of Punjab namely Jalandhar and SBS Nagar. The primary aim of this research was to know about the impacts of international migration on rural Punjab. During the survey it has been noticed that international migration has brought very notable changes in the migrant sending areas. As the thinking level of migrants’ family members had changed a lot and remittances sent by NRIs also improved their financial conditions enormously. Remittance recipient households utilize these remittances for various motives such as for repayment of loan, for constructionpurposes, to purchase household goods and for donation purposes also.

Do migrant remittances affect household spending? Focus on wedding expenditures

We use nationally representative survey data and propensity score matching to investigate the impact of remittances from labor migrants on households’ wedding expenditures. The investigation provides evidence that remittance-receiving households spend a smaller share of their budget on wedding ceremonies. Since lavish wedding ceremonies serve the purpose of increasing households' social status through conspicuous displays of wealth, the study concludes that remittance-recipient households are less likely to be engaged in conspicuous consumption than are households that do not receive remittances.

Effects of Remittances on Health Expenditure and Treatment Cost of International Migrant Households in Bangladesh

The Bangladesh economy is characterized by remarkable progress in international migration, resulting in a considerable inflow of remittance. Although many studies have attempted to study the effect of foreign remittances on household expenditure patterns, no effort has been made to critically analyze the effects and implications of migration and remittance flow on migrant households’ health expenditure. This article attempts to explore the effect of remittance on the health expenditure of remittance recipient households (RRHs) and the impact of the cost of treatment. Descriptive and regression analyses and standard micro-econometric techniques were applied by analyzing the nationally representative household data set of the Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2010 of Bangladesh. Results show that RRHs are more likely to spend more on health matters and more likely to have higher treatment costs than non-recipient households. Thus, remittances are significantly associated with health expenditure and the cost of treatment. International migration seems to be a household strategy characterized by a high expected return.

The development outcomes of remittance inflows to Nigeria: the case of the Southeastern Geo-political zone

ABSTRACT Remittances to Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) constitute a critical lifeline for millions of individual households. It is on record that these large transfers enable recipient households to raise their living standards beyond vulnerability and subsistence levels. Unfortunately, the development potentials of remittance income are seldom factored into most pro-poor targeting programmes in many SSA countries like Nigeria. This is largely due to the problems of data inconsistency as well as those related to lack of precise information on how remittances are received and spent. Using novel survey dataset involving 450 remittance recipient and non-recipient households collected in the Southeast Geopolitical Zone of Nigeria, the study uncovers significant evidence of the impact of remittances on household expenditure and povertyusingpropensityscore matching (PSM). Specifically, households that receive remittances invest between NGN186,000 (US$1,240) and NGN205,000 (US$1,366.7) more in building constructions, land acquisitions and also invest over NGN60,000 (US$400) more in household business enterprise compared to non-recipient households. Similarly, the estimated impact of remittances on poverty shows that household poverty is lower by between 30.3% and 33.6% considering the results from all the three PSM matching estimators. The differences between the recipients and non-recipients are statistically significant. The implications of the findings are discussed in terms of pro-poor targeting programmes in Nigeria.

Welfare Impact of Remittances in South-West Nigeria: Rural and Urban Households Compared

Migration has been identified as one of the pathways out of the cycle of poverty in developing countries. Nigeria as a developing nation was ranked second after Egypt in Africa and top 10 in the world remittance destination country with estimated official inflows of about US$25.08 billion in 2018. This study provides new evidence on the impact of remittance on household welfare in South-West Nigeria by delving deeper to understand the effect in rural versus urban context. We estimated the impact of remittance on welfare using Propensity Score matching estimation techniques to correct for selection bias that normally arises when remittance–recipient households are not randomly assigned. Average age and household size were 51 and 5 for remittance receiving households, 44 and 4 for non-remittance receiving households, respectively. The impact analysis showed that remittance had a positive impact on household welfare in all cases considered (South west, rural South west and Urban South west) and the estimates were highly sensitive to unobserved characteristics. The estimated average treatment effect on the treated (ATT) on pooled, rural and urban were ₦12411.95 ($34.47), ₦49985.28 ($138.84) and ₦88721.54 ($246.43) respectively for the households. However, the treatment estimates revealed that remittances had higher impact in urban households than the rural households. The application of our model to 552 households' show that the average treatment effects on treated (ATT) showed that remittance had a positive effect on household welfare. Specifically, the urban households received higher value or remittance than the rural but the magnitude of the impact is relatively higher in rural households versus urban households. Although, getting remittances from emigrant does not serve as the sole solution to poverty and national development, our results suggest that receiving remittances significantly improved the welfare of both farming (rural) and non-farming (urban) receiving households than non-receiving households thereby reducing incidence of poverty among the beneficiary. Policies addressing the transaction costs of funds transfer to receiving households in Nigeria and incentives for effective use of the fund among them could be explored as additional tools in improving household welfare in Nigeria.

The Microeconomic Impact of Migrants’ Remittances on Household Welfare

This research study investigated that how foreign remittances contributed to household welfare at the micro-level. The results revealed that remittances contributed progressively to household food consumption and wealth status. Remittances recipient families have good wealth status as compared to non-recipient ones. It has been found that migrants’ families are having good wealth status and own more assets. Additionally, a significant portion of remittances is used for food expenditures. The remittance recipient households are spending more on food and more food security as compared to others. Thus it is concluded that that foreign remittances have a positive relationship with household welfare.

The Impact of Remittance on Consumption and Investment: A Case of Province Five of Nepal

Background: Remittance remains a key source of external resource flows for developing countries. Remittance inflows are the addition of migrant remittance inflow and compensation of employees which include current transfers by migrant workers, with wages and salaries earned by non-resident workers. Remittance is an essential aspect of leveraging remittance to promote economic development. In the context of Nepal, remittance recipient households tend to spend more on consumption, health and education as compared to remittance non-receiving households.
 Objective: This study examines the impact of remittances on the consumption and investment in the context of province five of Nepal.
 Methods: This study is based on primary sources of data with 570 observations. The primary survey was used to extract the information from the respondents regarding the remittance amount, consumption and investment of individual household from the families of Rupandehi, Dang and Rolpa districts of Nepal whose family member has been working out of country. The regression models are estimated to test the significance and impact of remittances on the investment and consumption. Consumption and investment are the dependent variables. The independent variables are remittance, annual domestic income, household size, family residential area and level of education.
 Results: The results show that there is a positive relationship between remittances and consumption. This indicates that higher the amount of money inflow as a remittance, higher would be the consumption. Similarly, there is positive relationship domestic income and consumption which indicates that higher the level of domestic income, higher would be the consumption. Likewise, there is a positive relationship between household size and consumption. It indicates that larger the members in a family, higher would be the consumption. The result also reveals that there is a positive relationship between level of education and consumption. It indicates that higher the level of education, higher would be the consumption.
 Conclusion: Remittance has been leading to the consumption and investment behavior of rural household in province five. Remittance followed by family size is the most influencing factors that explain the changes in consumption and investment of families in province five of Nepal.
 Implication: This study can be useful to concerned authorities for further planning of proper investment of remittance.

Influence of Remittances on Socio-Economic Development in Rural Nepal

This article analyses socioeconomic changes with reference to income, consumption, expenditure, health, and education of migrant households in relation to remittances flows. This study is based on a case study of Musaharniya village in Rajbiraj Municipality of Saptari District, Province 2, Nepal. It is found that remittances play a vital role in improving the socioeconomic condition, reducing poverty and bringing social and political awareness in the village. Those households whose family members are not abroad are poorer than those with migrant members abroad. Due to increasing incomes, their expenditure capacity has considerably risen over time. All migrant households have owned land whereas one-third of households were landless in the past. Access to modern technologies has significantly increased among remittance recipient households compared to non-remittances households. Remittances were also causing migration from rural to urban centres to some extent.

Remittances, Corruption, and Human Development in Latin America

International private transfers from immigrant workers to families and friends have surged in Latin America. These transfers, also known as remittances, grew from a mere US$5 billion in 1990 to US$74.3 billion in 2016, supplementing the income of millions of families in the region. Particularly, remittances can contribute to human development by lifting large populations out of extreme poverty and by enabling better housing, education, and health. However, corruption and weak institutional environments can severely reduce the effectiveness of remittances on the path of development. For instance, remittance recipient households could be discouraged to use these foreign funds to acquire assets due to the cumbersome and corrupt process to legalize property. Using a panel of 26 Latin American and the Caribbean countries over the period of 1985–2016, this study investigates the effects of remittances and corruption on five development indicators. We find that remittances do significantly affect human capital indicators, and more so among countries fighting corruption.

Factors Influencing Food Insecurity in Nepal

Nepal has been persistently encountering food insecurity and under-nutrition. It is therefore utmost important to determine the factors responsible for influencing food insecurity in Nepal. This study examines the factors determining food insecurity in Nepal applying binary logistic models for food poverty, household with inadequate food consumption and poor dietary diversity using data from Nepal Living Standard Survey 2010/11. Food security was determined to be strongly associated with education level and age of household head, household with higher female education level, larger farm size with higher ratio of irrigated land, better access to markets, roads and cooperatives, better household assets and remittance recipient households. Food insecure is relatively more prevalent in rural areas with higher dependent on rain-fed agriculture, higher dependency ratio and larger family size. Improving both physical and economic access to foods, together with investment in education and agriculture could help to reduce food insecurity and hunger from Nepal.

Do Remittances reduce poverty in Kosovo? - A counterfactual analysis

Abstract Migration and remittances are argued to be an effective mechanism for mitigating poverty, as well as a coping mechanism for disadvantaged households with no or little employment and earning opportunities in Kosovo. A considerable part is reported to be directed towards consumption and very little for investment or enterpreneurship purposes. The high dependence of households on remittances suggests that poverty rates would be much higher without the safety net provided through migration and remittances. The conventional approach of empirically estimating determinants of remittances, including those focusing on Kosovo, treats both remittance and migration behaviour as independent decisions. Empirically estimating determinants of remittances while overlooking the importance of variables that influenced the decision to migrate will leave out these determinants and also bias the results. Hence, this study treats migration and remittance decision as a joint process and focuses on the household. More precisely, it analyses the impact that remittances and migration have on the poverty in Kosovo, in a hypothetical case, without remittances and migration using data from the Household Budget Survey 2011. Due to the potential presence of selection bias, this study uses a two-stage Heckman-type selection procedure which suggests that there is no selection bias. The study develops counterfactual consumption estimates for remittance recipient households through the use of survey bootstrap procedure to predict the consumption of households in the case of no remittances. The results support the hypothesis that remittances increase the consumption of recipient households. The poverty rate would be higher for a considerable proportion of households in the case of no remittances. The poverty rates would increase particularly in rural areas. The novelty of this study lies on the methodological approach chosen to investigate the impact of remittances on poverty in Kosovo. In contrast to previous analysis, this study controls for potential selection bias and empirically assesses whether the expectations on the poverty reducing effect of remittances in Kosovo hold.

The Impact of International Remittances on Poverty Alleviation in Bangladesh

This article mainly explores to what extent international remittances alleviate household poverty in Bangladesh. This study uses primary data collected from 216 households and employs multi-methods. Firstly, I measure the level of household poverty through Foster-Greer-Thorbecke index. The article secondly focuses on the impact of remittances on household poverty using a binary logistic regression model. I found that the level of poverty among remittance recipient households is notably lower than households that are not receiving remittances. Similarly, the probability of a household being poor is alleviated by 28.07 per cent if the household receives remittance. It can be suggested that nursing international remittances can be useful for poverty alleviation in Bangladesh.

Remittances, Poverty and Welfare: Evidence from Cumilla, Bangladesh

International remittance is now one of talking issues around the world as it has been playing a vital role in socio-economic development of the developing countries like Bangladesh since last few decades. Thus, the present study explores the impact of international remittances on household poverty and welfare in Bangladesh. To achieve this objective, the study analyses primary data collected from 360 households from Cumilla district of Bangladesh. To find out the impact of remittances on poverty, the study employs the Foster-Greer-Thorbecke (FGT) index. On the other hand, a one way ANOVA test is used to examine the impact of remittances on household welfare. The paper finds that the incidence, depth and severity of poverty among remittance recipient households is quite less than that of remittance non-recipient households. Empirically, the study finds that about 6 percent of remittance recipient households lives below the poverty line while this rate is 48 percent for non-recipient households. The study also finds that the average gross per capita expenditure of remittance receiving households is three times higher than that of non-recipient households which interprets that recipient households enjoy higher level of welfare. Thus, it is found that remittances have significant influence on household welfare. The study recommends nursing international remittances as an important tool in reducing poverty and enhancing welfare.

Do Internal and International Remittances Affect Households' Expenditure and Asset Accumulation Differently? Evidence From Bangladesh

At the household level, remittances are considered to affect consumption and asset accumulation patterns and thus contribute to household welfare. This paper attempts to examine whether expenditure and asset accumulation across the remittance recipient households in Bangladesh vary according to internal and international remittance incomes. The paper employs the propensity score matching technique to estimate the average treatment effect on the treated as a measure of the impact of remittances on expenditure and asset accumulation for the households that have migrant family members. For doing so, it uses data from the Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2010. In addition, this study carries out Rosenbaum bounds sensitivity analysis to test the sensitivity of results. The results suggest that the effects of remittances on household spending pattern vary widely between households with internal migrants and those with international migrants. In case of international remittances, the results demonstrate significant positive increase in education expenditure and other expenditure category (e.g., fuel and transportation), and rise in land and property purchase. Households with international migrants also spend significantly lower percentage of incomes on food expenditure. In case of internal remittances, either the effects are insignificant compared to that of international remittances or the results from internal remittance recipient households are extremely sensitive to claim to be different than that from the households with no migrants. The overall effects of remittance on household expenditure and asset accumulation thus appear little in the country, although international remittance incomes tend to contribute to household welfare notably compared to internal remittance incomes. Such finding raises potential alarm before the policymakers and reveals the importance of actions at the appropriate level to ensure better utilization of remittance incomes, especially in the areas of domestic economic environment and institutions.

Internal versus International Migration

This paper focuses on the effects of domestic and international remittances on child labor and schooling. Using data from the 1992–1993 and 1997–1998 Vietnam Living Standards Surveys, we investigate school attendance and child labor in remittance recipient and non-recipient households. The results of our binomial logit and two-sided censored regression panel analysis indicate that remittances increase schooling and reduce child labor. Although international remittances are found to have a stronger beneficial impact than domestic remittances in the cross-section, the panel analysis, taking account of fixed effects, reverses this result, showing that the only significant impact stems from domestic remittances.

HOUSEHOLD INWARD REMITTANCES AND BANKING SECTOR DEVELOPMENT: THE NIGERIAN EXPERIENCE (1977 – 2014)

There has been a massive inflow of diaspora remittances into the Nigerian economy in recent times. However, there are concerns over whether or not inward remittances have any significant effect on the banking sector development in Nigeria. This study sought to: (i) examine the trend of household inward remittances and banking sector development in Nigeria; (ii) analyse the effect of inward remittances on banking sector development in Nigeria. Annual time series data were sourced from World Development Indicators (WDI) (2015) edition of the world bank for the period 1977 – 2014. We employed both descriptive statistics in the form of graph and Generalised Method Moment instrumental variables (GMM-IV) estimator to examine the inward remittances - banking sector development nexus Nigeria. Results show that inward remittances have positive but statistically insignificant effect on banking sector development in Nigeria (β =0.0727; t =0.5165). It is therefore recommended amongst others , that Nigerian banks develop remittance-linked financial products for Nigerians in Diaspora and remittance recipient households instead of treating remittance as a one-off transaction without value addition.

Remittances and Household Expenditure in Nepal: Evidence from Cross-Section Data

This paper examines the effect of remittances on household expenditure patterns applying propensity score matching methods that allow designing and analyzing observational data and enable reducing selection bias. We use data from the Nepal Living Standards Survey 2010/2011. In general, remittance recipient households tend to spend more on consumption, health and education as compared to remittance non-receiving households. Although the findings do not clearly provide evidence of either the productive or non-productive use of remittances, expenditures on non-food investment categories, such as durable goods, health and education, are more apparent among remittance-receiving households compared to remittance non-receiving households, which signal the prospect of a sustainable long-term welfare gain among the former.