Remittances and Chain Migration: Longitudinal Evidence from Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

Most of the literature on remittances focuses on their implications for the welfare of family members in the country of origin and disregards their role as facilitator of chain migration. We address this issue with the use of longitudinal data from Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of the primary exporters of migrants and recipients of remittances in the world. We find that remittances have a significant positive impact on the migration prospects of their recipients. Better-endowed people are most likely to migrate, which highlights a potential negative implication of migration and remittances.     

Does Access to Formal Finance Matter for Welfare and Inequality? Micro Level Evidence from Nigeria

Using a treatment effects model, decomposition techniques and representative household data from Nigeria, we study the welfare and inequality implications of access to formal finance. While improving household welfare, formal access to finance increases inter-household inequalities, despite ameliorating the inequality enhancing effect of urban residence and enhancing the inequality ameliorating effect of greater educational attainment. The positive effect of access to formal finance on inequality is smaller than the effect of unobserved household characteristics, indicating that welfare and equality enhancing strategies should follow a holistic approach as opposed to one focusing on one isolated policy variable at a time.