|
The
Static and Dynamic Benefits of Migration and Remittances in
Nicaragua
Lykke E. Andersen & Bent Jesper Christensen
August 2009
This
paper utilizes a unique three-wave panel of household data from
Nicaragua, which allows a thorough exploration of the
relationships between migration, remittances and household
consumption. The paper distinguishes between the effects of
emigration and the impacts of remittances received. There is a
self-selection bias in the decision to send a migrant, as well
as in the decision to receive remittances. To adequately correct
for these selection biases, we develop a bivariate selection
correction procedure. Perhaps surprisingly, the results show
that households do not benefit (in terms of higher consumption
growth) from receiving remittances, but rather from having
migrants abroad. This suggests that not only money are remitted
from abroad, but also something more subtle, which could be
business ideas, belief systems, aspirations, patterns of social
interaction, and other intangibles, which have been dubbed
social remittances. .
To download
the document in PDF format please
CLICK HERE. |
