AN ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION OFThaman Bastola, for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Economics, presented on April 2, 2024, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: REMITTANCES IN NEPAL; LANDLOCKEDNESS AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Sajal LahiriThis dissertation concentrates on two key economic areas: trade and remittances. Executing many empirical models using relevant data and estimation techniques on each of these topics, we provide some novel findings about trade in landlocked countries and micro-level determinants of remittances in a landlocked country. The international trade of landlocked countries is critical, experiencing adverse geographical effects for exporting or importing. The first paper of this dissertation focuses on analyzing the impact of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) on the trade of landlocked countries. We find the more significant positive impact that calls for a strategy to join a PTA to address poverty and speed up the growth process through trade in landlocked developing countries. The second paper attempts to determine the probability of remittances related to micro-socioeconomic factors in a landlocked country, Nepal. The results show that gender, caste and ethnicity, income, language, religion, household size, wealth, age, and employment affect the probability of domestic or foreign remittances. The third paper is an extension of the second one, which examines Nepal's extensive and intensive margins of remittances. Most variables exhibit an opposite sign for foreign remittances between the extensive and intensive margins. Groups of households that display a higher rate of migration receive lower amounts of foreign remittances and vice-versa. On the other hand, the results somewhat diverge for domestic remittances, such as wealth have a positive effect in both margins but gender have a opposite effect between two margins; even though many variables are statistically insignificant, either extensive or intensive margins of remittances.

Thesis (MDF (Development Finance))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Meer en meer mense werk buite hul land van herkoms as ooit tevore, en die geld wat hulle stuur na hul tuislande kan bestempel word as ‘n belangrike ekonomiese krag. Hierdie geld kan ’n belangrike rol speel in die ekonomie wat die geld ontvang. Die geld wat reiswerkers tuis stuur word remise of geldsending genoem en oortref reeds Offisiële Ontwikkelingshulp en oortref selfs Buitelandse Investering in sommige lande. Hierdie navorsingsverslag fokus op Zimbabwe, ’n land waarvan die ekonomie volgens sommiges reeds lank gelede moes ineengestort het. Die studie ondersoek tot watter mate geldsending die Zimbabwe ekonomie beskerm teen ineenstorting. Die verslag gebruik ’n opname onder verskeie rolspelers om te wys hoe geldsending die Zimbabwe ekonomie beskerm teen internasionale uitsluiting en sanksies. Zimbabweërs wat die ekonomiese swaarkry vrygespring het in hul land van herkoms stuur voortdurend geld na vriende en familie. Remise word deels gebruik as investering in kleinsake, terwyl deel van die buitelandse valuta investeer word in komoditeite wat die land moeilik deur offisiële kanale sou kon bekom. Die studie het bevind dat geldsending in 2005 en 2006 ongeveeer 25.5% en 25 persent respektiewelik tot die Bruto Nasioanle Produk van Zimbabwe bygedra het. Die studie het verder ’n paar interresante bevindinge gemaak. Een van hierdie is die ongedokumenteerde verskynsel van defleksie van geldsending na meer stabiele ekonomieë of geldeenhede. Sulke remise word dan in die land gehou waar dit gegenereer is, of dit word gestuur in ’n stabiele geldeenheid, of dit word selfs in die vorm van produkte soos kos gestuur. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: More and more people are working outside their countries of citizenship than before. These people are now a major economic force to their countries of origin as they are sending a lot of money to relatives back home. This income plays a key role in receiving economies. The money migrants send home is referred to as remittances and the amount transferred globally has eclipsed official development assistance (ODA) and in some economies it is well ahead of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). This research focuses on Zimbabwe, a country whose economy has long been anticipated to collapse but has so far evaded that implosion. It explores to which extent remittances are cushioning Zimbabwe’s economy from collapse. This report uses a survey of a number of role players to show how remittances have cushioned that economy from the effects of international isolation and sanctions. Zimbabweans who “escaped” the economic hardships in their country of origin have been consistently sending money home to their friends and relations. Money received has partly been invested in small businesses and part of the forex has been used to procure commodities that the country has struggled to acquire through official channels. The study found that the amount of remittances sent for 2005 and 2006 has respectively contributed approximately 25.5 and 25 percent to the GDP of Zimbabwe. The study further made a number of interesting findings. One of these seems to be the undocumented phenomenon of the deflection of remittances to more stable economies or currencies. Such remittances would be kept in the country where it is generated, or it would be sent back in a stable country, or could even be in the form of products such as food.

Cette thèse comporte trois chapitres qui se rattachent aux relations entre les migrants et leur communauté d'origine sur le cas de la Chine et le Vietnam. Le premier chapitre étudie la relation entre les transferts de fonds envoyés par les migrants, et le niveau de confiance et de fiabilité des villageois vietnamiens qui en sont bénéficiaires. Voici les résultats principaux obtenus en combinant les données d’un terrain d’expérimentation de 2010 avec les données de VHLSS 2002 (2002 Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey). En ce qui concerne le niveau de confiance, cette étude montre que les transferts de fonds internationaux sont liés de manière positive au comportement de confiance de ceux qui les reçoivent. En ce qui concerne le niveau de fiabilité, l’étude trouve que les transferts de fonds internationaux ont un lien négatif avec le niveau de fiabilité de celui qui les reçoit tandis que les transferts de fonds internes ont un lien positif avec le niveau de fiabilité de celui qui les reçoit. Cette étude montre en outre que le niveau de fiabilité est plus élevé dans le sud que dans le nord de Vietnam. Le deuxième chapitre s'interroge sur l'impact des enfants lassés dans la communauté d’origine par les migrants sur leur décision de retour en Chine en utilisant une enquête ménage en milieu rural du district de Wuwei (dans la province de l’Anhui) en 2008. Un modèle de durée paramétrique à hasards proportionnels en temps discret et un modèle probit sont employés pour estimer séparément le rôle des enfants laissés au village par âge et par sexe sur la longueur des épisodes migratoires pour les migrants actuels et les migrants du retour, ainsi que pour les intentions de retour de migrants actuels. Cette étude souligne le rôle des enfants lassés derrières comme raison significative pour le retour des parents migrants. Le dernier chapitre étudie l’impact de l’expérience migratoire sur le choix d’être entrepreneur pour un migrant du retour après son retour dans sa communauté d’origine. En utilisant la même base de donnés chinoise, cette étude montre que les migrants du retour ont une tendance plus affirmée à devenir entrepreneurs que les non-migrants, et que l'épargne rapatriée par les migrants, comme la fréquence des changements d'emploi pendant l'épisode migratoire, exercent une influence positive sur la probabilité des migrants de devenir entrepreneurs après leur retour. / This dissertation is comprised of three chapters on the interaction between migrants and their source regions applied to China and Vietnam. The first chapter examines whether remittances are related to receivers’ trust and trustworthiness in Vietnam. Using a combination of a field experiment conducted in 2010 and the “2002 Vietnam Household Living Standards Survey”, the chapter finds that while internal remittances have no significant relationship to trusting behavior, international remittances demonstrate a significantly positive connection. On the other hand, international remittances are negatively related to trustworthiness, while internal remittances are positively associated. Besides, this study finds that the level of trustworthiness is higher in the south than in the north. The second chapter explores the role of children by age and by gender as a motive for return migration in China by using a rural household survey conducted in Wuwei County (Anhui province) in 2008. Resorting to a discrete time proportional hazard model and a binary Probit model to estimate respectively the determinants of migration duration for both on-going migrants and return migrants, and the return intentions of on-going migrants, the chapter finds consistent results regarding the role of left-behind children as a significant motive for return. The last chapter examines the impact of the migration experience on individuals’ choice of being self-employed upon their return to their home villages. By using the same data of Wuwei survey, the chapter finds that return migrants are more likely to be self-employed than non-migrants, and that both return savings and the frequency of job changes during migration increase the likelihood for return migrants to become self-employed.

This dissertation is comprised of three chapters on the interaction between migrants and their source regions applied to China and Vietnam. The first chapter examines whether remittances are related to receivers' trust and trustworthiness in Vietnam. Using a combination of a field experiment conducted in 2010 and the "2002 Vietnam Household Living Standards Survey", the chapter finds that while internal remittances have no significant relationship to trusting behavior, international remittances demonstrate a significantly positive connection. On the other hand, international remittances are negatively related to trustworthiness, while internal remittances are positively associated. Besides, this study finds that the level of trustworthiness is higher in the south than in the north. The second chapter explores the role of children by age and by gender as a motive for return migration in China by using a rural household survey conducted in Wuwei County (Anhui province) in 2008. Resorting to a discrete time proportional hazard model and a binary Probit model to estimate respectively the determinants of migration duration for both on-going migrants and return migrants, and the return intentions of on-going migrants, the chapter finds consistent results regarding the role of left-behind children as a significant motive for return. The last chapter examines the impact of the migration experience on individuals' choice of being self-employed upon their return to their home villages. By using the same data of Wuwei survey, the chapter finds that return migrants are more likely to be self-employed than non-migrants, and that both return savings and the frequency of job changes during migration increase the likelihood for return migrants to become self-employed.

Cette recherche étudie les transferts de fonds réalisés par les migrants dans le cas des migrations entre pays en développement. À l’aide de données récentes et originales portant sur divers pays d’Afrique, il cherche à i) dresser un panorama général des migrations et des transferts de fonds africains, ii) analyser l’impact des conditions de départ sur le comportement de transfert des migrants, iii) étudier les usages des transferts réalisés dans le cas de migrations forcées, et plus généralement Sud-Sud et iv) établir s’il existe des différences de comportement selon les pays de destination des migrants (pays développés ou en développement). Les résultats montrent que les conditions de départ jouent un rôle déterminant dans la décision de transférer des migrants et que les transferts de fonds Sud-Sud sont en grande partie utilisés pour financer des dépenses courantes. Ils révèlent également que les comportements de transfert des migrants Sud-Sud et Sud-Nord diffèrent légèrement. / The objective of this research is to analyze South-South remittances, i.e. remittances made between developing countries. With recent and original survey data on African countries, its purpose is to i) establish an overview of African migration and remittances, ii) analyze the impact of departure conditions on the migrants’ remittance behavior, iii) study remittance used in the case of forced migration, and more generally in the case of South-South migration and iv) analyze if remittance behavior of South-South migrants differs from those of South-North migrants. Results show that departure conditions play an important role in the migrant’s decision to remit. They also highlight that South-South remittances are largely used to finance consumption expenditures. Finally, results reveal that South-South and South-North migrants behave slightly differently in terms of remittances.

The study investigated the impact of remittances on financial development in Africa using the dynamic generalised methods of moments (GMM) and other panel data analysis methods with data from 2003 to 2015. Using the same econometric estimation methods, the study also explored the influence of the complementarity between remittances and economic growth on financial development in Africa. Literature on the relationship between remittances and financial development is mixed, inconclusive and indecisive. The desire to contribute towards literature on the influence of remittances on financial development in the African context prompted this study. In Africa, personal remittances had an insignificant positive impact on financial development across all the econometric estimation approaches in all the four models, in line with some empirical studies on the subject matter. African countries are urged therefore to avoid wasting their time developing and implementing remittances, foreign aid and human capital development enhancement policies as a way of spearheading financial development. Using both broad money (as % of GDP) and domestic private credit ratio as measures of financial development, the interaction between remittances and economic growth was found to have a non-significant negative effect on financial development in Africa. The policy implication is that Africa needs to avoid over relying on economic growth as a channel through which financial development can happen / Die studie het die impak van betalings op finansiële ontwikkeling in Afrika ondersoek – deur middel van die dinamiese veralgemeende momentemetode (GMM) en ander metodes van paneeldata-ontleding, met data van 2003 tot 2015. Dieselfde ekonometriese beramingsmetodes is ook ingespan om die invloed van die komplementariteite tussen betalings en ekonomiese groei op finansiële ontwikkeling in Afrika te ondersoek. Die literatuur oor die verwantskap tussen betalings en finansiële ontwikkeling is gemeng, onoortuigend en vaag. Die begeerte om tot die literatuur oor die invloed van betalings op finansiële ontwikkeling in die Afrika-konteks by te dra, het tot hierdie studie aanleiding gegee. In Afrika het persoonlike betalings ʼn onbeduidende positiewe impak op finansiële ontwikkeling in al die benaderings tot ekonometriese beraming in al vier modelle gehad, wat strook met sommige empiriese studies oor die onderwerp. Afrika-lande word dus gemaan om nie hul tyd te mors met die ontwikkeling en implementering van betalings en buitelandse hulp en beleide om mensekapitaalontwikkeling te verbeter as ʼn manier om finansiële ontwikkeling te lei nie. Daar is bevind dat sowel breë geldvoorraad (as ʼn persentasie van BBP) en die binnelandse private kredietverhouding as maatstawwe van finansiële ontwikkeling, die wisselwerking tussen betalings, en ekonomiese groei ʼn nie-beduidende negatiewe uitwerking op finansiële ontwikkeling in Afrika het. Die beleidsimplikasie is dat Afrika moet waak teen oorafhanklikheid van ekonomiese groei as ʼn kanaal waardeur finansiële ontwikkeling kan plaasvind. / Ucwaningo beluphenya umthelela wezimali ezibhadalwayo mayelana nokuthuthukiswa komkhakha wezezimali e-Afrika ngokusebenzisa izindlela ezifanayo zezikhathi (GMM) kanye nezinye izindlela zokuhlaziywa idatha yephaneli ngokusebenzisa idatha yonyaka ka 2003 ukufikela ku 2015. Ngokusebenzisa izindlela ezifanayo zohlelo lokulinganisa isimo somnotho (econometric estimation), ucwaningo futhi luye lwahlola umthelela wousebenzisana okuphakathi kwezimali ezibhadalwayo kanye nokuhluma komnotho mayelana nokuthuthukiswa ngezimali e-Afrika. Umbhalo wobuciko mayelana nobudlelwano phakathi kwezimali ezibhadalwayo kanye nokuthuthukiswa kwezinhlaka zezimali uxutshwe ndawonye, awunaso isiphetho futhi awukwazi ukuthatha izinqumo. Isidingo sokufaka igalelo embhalweni wobuciko mayelana nomthelela wezimali ezibhadalwayo kwihlelo lokuthuthukiswa kwezimali ngaphansi kwesizinda sase-Afrika, ykho okuphembelele ukuthi kube nalolu cwaningo. E-Afrika, izimali ezibhadalwa abantu ziye zaba nomthelela omuhle kwintuthuko yezimali kuzo zonke izindlela zokulinganisa izinga lentuthuko yezomnotho kuwo wonke amamodeli amane, ngokuhambisana nezinye izifundo zocwaningo oluphathekayo lwalesi sifundo. Ngalokho-ke amazwe ase-Afrika ayanxenxwa ukuthi agweme ukumosha isikhathi sawo athuthukisana futhi asebenzisa uhlelo lokuthumela izimali futhi agweme ukuqinisa imigomo yoncedo oluvela emazweni angaphandle kanye nokuthuthukisa abantu ngokwamakhono omsebenzi, njengento yokuhlahla indlela yohlelo lokuthuthukiswa kwezimali. Ukusethenziswa kokubili imali ebanzi (njengephesenti le-GDP) kanye njengesilinganiso sesikweletu, phecelezi-domestic private credit ratio sisebenza njengesilinganiso sezinga lokutthuthuka ngokwezimali, ukusebenzisana phakathi kwezimali ezibhadalwayo kanye nokuhluma komnotho kutholakele ukuthi kube nomthelela ongabalulekile omubi phezu kwezinga lentuthuko yezimali e-Afrika. Ngokomgomo lokhu kuchaza ukuthi i-Afrika idinga ukuthi igweme ukwencika kakhulu ukusebenzisa uhlelo lokuthuthukiswa komnotho njengomgudu lapho kungathuthukiswa komnotho. / Financial Accounting / M. Com. (Business Management)

The investigation of the relationships between migration processes and the reconstructions of social identities and of social relations within local, national and international contexts illustrates how social change in an Oaxacan community in Mexico is a complex, multi-faceted process. This study examines how migration processes and social change shape and are shaped by people and practices in specific historical moments interacting dialectically with broader social, economic and political structures. By paying greater attention to the quotidian and to the choices that people make as they go about their daily lives, the heterogeneity and multiplicity of community members' subjectivities and experiences are highlighted. Gender, ethnicity, race, age, class, sexuality, and religion are examined as crucial variables in processes of social differentiation and in the social reproduction of gender/racial/class hierarchies in which women and men are situated. The research applies the concept of hegemony to demonstrate that power is not separate from meaning; the social construction of meanings plays an important role in the creation of consent, collaboration or resistance. Community members have internalized their own domination through hegemonic processes, reproducing the dominant social order, yet they frequently challenge their own particular social locations within this social order. Migration processes and the globalization of communication and consumption in advanced capitalism have played key roles in these processes. New experiences and information technologies have led to a redefining and re-presenting of meanings and practices which have had negative and positive impacts on individuals, on families and on the community.

Thesis advisor: Fabio Ghironi / In Chapter 1, I analyze the cross-country transmission of business cycles when firms relocate production abroad, at locations with lower labor costs. In the model, I distinguish between fluctuations in the number of offshoring firms (the extensive margin) and the value added per offshoring firm (the intensive margin) as separate transmission mechanisms. Firms are heterogeneous in labor productivity. They face a sunk entry cost at home and an additional fixed cost to produce offshore. The model replicates the extensive and intensive margin dynamics that I document for Mexico's maquiladora sector. Offshoring enhances the co-movement of output between the countries involved. Offshoring also reduces price dispersion across countries, because it dampens the real exchange rate appreciation that follows improvements in domestic productivity. In Chapter 2, I estimate the conditional correlations and impulse responses of three indicators of offshoring to Mexico (total value added, value added per plant, and the number of plants) for U.S. permanent technology shocks. Using data from U.S. manufacturing and Mexico's maquiladora sector, I identify U.S. permanent technology shocks in a structural VAR model with long-run restrictions. Following a positive shock, offshore production in Mexico exhibits an immediate increase along its intensive margin, but returns to its initial level over time. The extensive margin does not adjust on impact, but increases gradually towards a permanently higher level. The model of offshoring in Chapter 1 matches qualitatively the business cycle dynamics of offshoring to Mexico. In Chapter 3 (co-authored with Federico Mandelman), we analyze the dynamics of labor migration and the insurance role of remittances in a two-country, real business cycle framework. Emigration increases with the expected stream of future wage gains, and is dampened by the sunk cost reflecting border enforcement. During booms in the destination economy, the scarcity of established immigrants enhances the volatility of the immigrant wage and remittances. The welfare gain from the inflow of unskilled labor increases with the complementarity between skilled and unskilled labor, and with the share of the skilled among native labor. The model matches the cyclical dynamics of the unskilled immigration into the U.S. and remittances sent back to Mexico. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.

This dissertation contributes to the emerging empirical literature on the developmental impact of international migration in the source developing economy. Given the policy priority placed on job creation and the emphasis on wage impacts in recent work, the focus here is on the consequences of emigration on the extent of employment and the nature of that employment of those left behind. In particular, our questions are (i) does international migration and remittances have an impact on unemployment rates in the source country? and (ii) do remittances encourage entrepreneurship, as reflected by the share of workers classified as self-employed? We investigate these questions using census data from Mexico, unlike much of previous work that has relied on household survey data. Our empirical strategy attempts to address the typical issues of self-selection and endogeneity that migration impact studies encounter. We classify workers into skill groups and employ the Borjas (2003) empirical strategy, carrying out our analysis at the national level. We also introduce the fractional logit estimator (Papke and Wooldridge (1996)), unused in this field before, to address the fact that the dependent variables of concern are both proportions, and thus avoid the flaws in typical studies that investigate the impact of selected variables on the conditional expectation of a proportion or vector of proportions. Our results show that (i) emigration and remittances decrease native unemployment rates, and (ii) remittances intensify self-employment activities among the receivers. These results are even stronger once we control for sample bias and endogeneity. In terms of economic policy, we therefore provide indirect evidence that migration and remittances could be growth enhancing through their effects on employment in the source country. / Cette dissertation contribue à la littérature empirique naissante sur l'impact développemental de la migration internationale dans le pays source. Etant donné la priorité de politique placée sur la création d'emplois, l’analyse est ici portée sur les conséquences de l'émigration sur l'emploi et la nature de cet emploi. En particulier, nos questions sont les suivantes, d’une part, (i) est-ce que la migration internationale et les transferts de fonds des travailleurs migrants ont un impact sur le taux de chômage dans le pays de source? D’autre part, (ii) les transferts de fonds des travailleurs migrants encouragent-ils l'esprit d'entreprise, comme reflété par la proportion de travailleurs indépendants du pays source? Nous étudions ces questions en utilisant des données de recensement du Mexique et des Etats-Unis, à la différence de beaucoup des travaux précédents qui se sont fondés sur des données d'enquête de ménage. Notre stratégie empirique essaye d'adresser les problèmes de biais de sélection et d’endogénéite, problèmes que les études précédentes ont rencontrés. Nous classifions les travailleurs dans différents groupes de compétence et utilisons la stratégie empirique dévelopée par Borjas (2003), effectuant ainsi notre analyse au niveau national. Nous introduisons également l'estimateur partiel de logit (développé par Papke et Wooldridge (1996)). Nos résultants montrent que (i) l'émigration et les transferts de fonds de travailleurs migrants diminuent le taux de chômage du pays source, et par ailleurs (ii) les transferts de fonds de travailleurs migrants augmentent le taux de travailleurs indépendants dans le pays source. Ces résultats sont encore plus significatifs une fois que nous prenons en considération les problèmes économétriques liés aux biais de sélection et d’endogénéité. En termes de politique économique, nous fournissons donc des preuves empiriques quant aux effets de la migration internationale et des transferts de fonds migrants sur la croissance économique du pays de source.

Cette thèse propose une évaluation empirique de l'impact des transferts de fond des migrants (TFM) en matière de développement économique de leur pays d'origine. Elle démontre notamment que cet impact, supposé dans la littérature comme généralement positif, est susceptible d'être réduit en raison de l'existence d'un « effet de dépendance ». Cet effet est particulièrement développé dans les pays pour lesquels les TFM représentent une part importante du PIB. Ce résultat est obtenu en trois temps. Le premier chapitre propose une synthèse de la littérature sur les principaux déterminants et impacts des TFM. Les TFM sont déterminés par les comportements individuels, dont les effets sont observables à l'échelle macroéconomique. Le caractère peu volatile ou contracyclique des TFM leur confère un effet stabilisateur sur les économies receveuses. Cet effet positif a néanmoins un revers : les pays recevant des TFM peuvent connaitre un effet de dépendance aux TFM se traduisant par une diminution de leur activité économique. Le deuxième chapitre présente deux résultats : Premièrement, il propose la fixation d'un seuil empirique de dépendance aux TFM. Ainsi un ratio TFM/PIB supérieur à la moyenne des PED définit un pays comme fortement dépendant. Le second résultat est la confirmation d'un impact négatif de cette dépendance à partir d'une base de données en panel sur 32 pays. Les résultats infirment donc l'hypothèse d'un impact systématiquement positif des TFM sur la croissance du PIB et la formation brute de capitale fixe (FBCF). Le troisième chapitre étudie les impacts et déterminants des TFM dans le cas d'un pays fortement dépendant : le Tadjikistan. Cette étude de cas permet une analyse plus poussée de l'économie des TFM dans un pays fortement dépendant. Différents déterminants macroéconomiques sont testés afin de comparer le poids de l'activité économique russe et tadjike sur les TFM. Les résultats, robustes à différentes méthodes d'estimation, confirment un effet de dépendance aux TFM qui s'explique notamment par la supériorité du cycle économique russe sur le cycle tadjik dans la détermination des TFM. / This thesis provides an empirical assessment of the impact of migrants' remittances on economic development of their origin country of origin. It shows that this impact, assumed in the literature as generally positive, is likely to be reduced due to the existence of a "dependency effect". This effect is particularly important in countries where remittances are an important share of GDP. This demonstration takes place in three stages: The first chapter provides a literature survey on the main determinants and impacts of remittances. Remittances are determined by individual behaviours, whose effects are observable at the macro level. The low volatility and the cyclical nature of remittances give them a stabilizing effect on receiving economies. This positive effect has nevertheless a setback: the remittances receiving countries can be subject to a dependency effect, resulting in a decrease in economic activity. The second chapter presents two results: First, it proposes the establishment of an empirical threshold of remittances' dependency. Thus, a country heavily dependent is characterized by a remittances to GDP ratio above the average of developing countries. The second result is the confirmation of a negative impact of this dependency according to the results of a panel data analysis on 32 countries. The results refute the hypothesis of a consistently positive impact of remittances on GDP growth and on gross capital formation (GFCF). The third chapter examines the impact and determinants of TFM in the case of a country heavily dependent: Tajikistan. This case study provides further analysis of the economics of remittances. Different macroeconomic determinants are tested to compare the role of Russian and Tajik economic activities on remittances. The results, robust to different estimation methods, confirm the effect of dependency. Moreover, remittances are more determined by Russian economic activity than by the Tajik one.