Paper

Migration as a Strategy for Household Finance: A Research Agenda on Remittances, Payments, and Development

Studying remittances to better understand their increasing role in economic development
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This paper proposes to reframe the research agenda on remittances, payments, and development to view migration as an investment and remittances as a return on investment. It states that literature modeling migration as a household financial strategy would entail a different set of questions, which can lead to more informative answers than traditional research focused on whether remittances promote investment and financial development. The research questions suggested by the paper include:

  • How can more families invest in migration?
  • How can policy reduce barriers to all kinds of investment?
  • Can families now earn decent income without remittances?
  • What do families sacri?ce when they cannot migrate?
  • How can financial development facilitate remittances?
  • What is the right subsidy/tax on the migration investment?
  • How can more families use migration to recover from shocks?

 

About this Publication

By Clemens, M. & Ogden, T.
Published