Many countries are dependent upon capital flows for their balance of payments accounts. Sources of expenditures include foreign direct investment (FDI), portfolio investment (PI) and remittances. While the determinants of FDI and PI have been extensively analyzed, the analyses of remittance flows from host to home countries are largely lacking and wide-ranging. Factors predominantly not considered are domestic institutions which support or encourage international remittance exchange. Nations routinely desire to control international immigration and capital movement. Consequently they adopt domestic policies which create and enforce institutions that manage both capital and labor mobility across borders. Additionally, researchers commonly neglect to consider the impact of both the supply and demand factors simultaneously, or in other words, the domestic condition (home and host) which both push and pull migrants to migrate and remit. Further, given the non-dyadic nature of the data, there arises a need to "regionalize" the data. To test the effects of variations in immigration institutional attributes, I employ a pooled data set of approximately 104 nations from 1990 to 2004. Controlling for existing explanations and regional influences, I find that domestic institutions have a significant impact on the ability of an individual to migrate to a host country and to eventually remit back to their country of origin.

Comments and Discussions : Emiko USUI (臼井恵美子)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2009. / "Graduate Program in Global Affairs." Includes bibliographical references (p. 173-180).

The main objective of this thesis is to understand the economic, social and political impacts of globalization on the Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Central Asian countries in general. The empirical studies based on panel data analyses and the case study on Kyrgyzstan demonstrate that the socio-economic effect of globalization on development of these countries is twofold. On the one hand benefits produced by globalization such as migration and remittances can be useful for economic development in the short run. They take a role of a "shock absorber" of the challenges that are associated with transition to a free market economy. On the other hand, their long term economic impacts can be negative especially in the areas of industry and export. Moreover, it can have a negative effect in the future creating a loss of human capital and distorting traditional forms of social structures within societies. The political impact of globalization is also dual. The empirical analysis that is based on simple regression analysis demonstrates that adoption of liberal democracy model by Central Asian governments is not a necessary condition for successful economic growth. Countries can be democratic and have low or medium socio-economic development such as India or Ukraine. They also can be undemocratic and developed as China or Kazakhstan. To find a certain connection between democracy and development it is needed to look at other important economic, geo-political and social factors that can contribute to the development. On the other hand regional and global challenges produced by globalization forced Central Asian countries to find a political position that would satisfy interests of inside and outside actors as well as provide proper environment for stable political and economic development. The descriptive analysis demonstrates that Central Asian countries chose the path of political integration and cooperation by being involved in regional institutions such as SCO and EEC. This strategy can help them to withstand challenges produced by globalization and promote political stability and economic growth in the region.

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between remittance flows and the gender and skill characteristics of the migrants. By using annual data on bilateral migration and bilateral remittances between 20 OECD sending countries and 22 receiving countries from Europe and Central Asia over the period 2010-2012, a gravity model, incorporating the share of female- and the share of skilled migrants, is estimated. The model is extended by including a number of macroeconomic determinants of remittances. The main results show that remittances per capita decline with both share of female migrants and the share of the skilled migrants, and this relationship is more evident for receiving countries with relatively higher income levels. Skilled women are also found to remit smaller amounts of money relative to the unskilled ones. Thus, the study contradicts the widespread claim that females are more reliable remitters and that the negative effect of brain drain from developing countries could be mitigated by larger volumes of remittances sent by skilled migrants relative to unskilled ones. Furthermore, most of the macro variables are found to be significant and remittances show to be more responsive to the economic conditions in the source rather than in the recipient countries. The evidence on the motives to remit is rather mixed.

This dissertation consists of three essays. The first essay exploits a rich Longitudinal Survey on Immigrants to Canada (LSIC) dataset to determine the attributes that affect the probability of the incidence of remittances for a subsample of South East and Southern Asian immigrants. A logit regression model is used to address key motivations of the probability to remit by immigrants who live in Canada, with a particular focus on the immigrants' labour force participation and employment, education, housing, and living conditions. Results suggest that demographic, economic, and social factors are important for individuals in making decisions about remitting. Two questions are answered in the second essay. First, is there any significant impact of foreign financial flows on economic growth? Second, are remittances and grants more effective than loans in promoting growth? To answer these questions, the Generalized Method of Movements (GMM) technique is employed for a panel of 46 developing countries from all regions of the world during 1979 to 2011. Results suggest that remittances are most effective for all regions in promoting economic growth. Results reveal that grant-aid is also significantly associated with economic growth, while the impact of concessional loans is found to be insignificant. The varied performance of different types of financial flows is perhaps due to the fact that the obligation to repay loans made them less lucrative an option for investment mobilization. The third essay addresses the research question: “Does the exchange rate appreciate in the face of a voluminous remittances inflow?” To answer this question, the essay devises a mean group (MG) and pooled mean group (PMG) technique to investigate the exchange rate and remittance relationship for six South and South East Asian countries (Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand). The essay reveals strong homogeneous currency appreciation that supports the ‘Dutch Disease’ theoretical framework. Remittances are also found to be significantly associated with the expansion of the non-tradable goods sector at the expense of the tradable goods sector (resource movement effect). The presence of ‘Dutch Disease’ calls for active policy intervention in the face of large increases in remittance receipts.

This dissertation consists of three essays on different attributes of immigrants and remittances over time. Using the recently available three waves of the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants in Canada (LSIC), our first essay investigates the relationships between socio-economic characteristics and remittance behaviour of Indian and Chinese immigrants in Canada. After conducting a logistic regression on the likelihood of remitting and an instrumental variable regression of the amount remitted, the study observes significant differences between the remittance behaviour of Chinese and Indian immigrants. While Chinese remittances are mostly affected by age, income, level of education and personal investment in home country, Indian remittances are influenced by marital status, having family members in the host country, and being involved with social/religious organization in the host country. Financial variables play significant roles for both types of immigrants. Using data from the LSIC, our second essay explores the link between health and education among recently arrived immigrants in Canada. The empirical evidence suggests that education has a positive impact on the health of newly arrived immigrants. This relationship remains valid for a few years after arrival. More educated immigrants seem to be better informed and appear to make use of health-related information. If differences in health can be explained using educational inequality then education might directly affect the quality of life. The likelihood of being in better health increases amongst those with higher levels of education. Our third essay examines whether the financial sector of a country plays a significant role in explaining a country’s capacity to take advantage of remittances to influence economic growth. Using data from 1979 to 2011 for the 33 top remittance recipient developing countries and employing the GMM approach, the study observes a positive association between remittances and growth. However, no conclusive evidence on the importance of financial development on remittance-growth nexus could be established. Moreover, remittances have the strongest effect on economic growth under repressed financial regimes. Ensuring that remittance recipients have access to financial intermediaries and promoting financial literacy may increase the positive influence of the financial sector on the relationship between remittances and economic growth.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2005 / Pacific Islands Studies

Thesis (doctoral) - Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, 2007. / Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (p. [279]-284)

In recent years, remittance flows as a part of economic and political competition has become an important issue in politics. Countries intend to increase money inflows by encouraging their citizens who live abroad to transfer their earnings back to their home countries. Today, since the influence of remittances on global economy is perceived to be very critical the remittance flows between countries are closely monitored by important political and economic actors. Sweden and Turkey are the two countries which have developed close relations on migration and remittances over the last fifty years and now Sweden passes through a transition period in terms of evolvement of the public opinion on immigration. This dissertation focuses on the analysis of remittance structure between Sweden and Turkey with a theoretical perspective in order to contribute to evaluation of immigration policies of the political parties in Sweden in light of remittances. The recent general election in Sweden resulted in favor of political parties which support more restricted immigration policies. Eventually, the dissertation aims to contribute with another economic aspect to the comparison on the perspectives of the political parties in Sweden towards immigration. Therefore, the results from the case study is used to verify whether the tendency of the public opinion in Sweden is meaningful. Briefly, in this study, the bilateral remittances between the two countries are examined per se considering views of mainstream theories on remittances and the results are evaluated with the recent political thoughts on immigration in Sweden. The results refers that the negative tendency of public opinion echoed by some political parties in Sweden towards immigration is not economically rational in the sense of remittances.