IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/bejeap/v14y2014i3p28n17.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do Low-Skilled Migrants Contribute More to Home Country Income? Evidence from South Asia

Author

Listed:
  • Cooray Arusha

    (School of Economics, University of Wollongong, Northfields Ave, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia)

Abstract

A recursive system is employed to investigate the indirect effect of out-migration on gross domestic product (GDP) through remittances in South Asia, namely Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Out-migration is further disaggregated by skill level and country of destination (Middle East and other), and their effects on GDP through remittances are examined. The results suggest that migration and remittances have an important significant effect on the GDP of the countries under study. Of the skill categories, the unskilled category has the largest robust indirect effect on GDP. The effects of migration on GDP by country of destination suggest that migration to the Middle East has a robust and significant impact on GDP. There is some evidence of a combination between the altruistic and self-interested motives of migrants’ to remit.

Suggested Citation

  • Cooray Arusha, 2014. "Do Low-Skilled Migrants Contribute More to Home Country Income? Evidence from South Asia," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 14(3), pages 1185-1212, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:bejeap:v:14:y:2014:i:3:p:28:n:17
    DOI: 10.1515/bejeap-2013-0102
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/bejeap-2013-0102
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/bejeap-2013-0102?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jayati Ghosh, 2009. "Migration and Gender Empowerment: Recent Trends and Emerging Issues," Human Development Research Papers (2009 to present) HDRP-2009-04, Human Development Report Office (HDRO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), revised Apr 2009.
    2. Rosenzweig, Mark R, 1988. "Risk, Implicit Contracts and the Family in Rural Areas of Low-income Countries," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 98(393), pages 1148-1170, December.
    3. Michel Beine & Fréderic Docquier & Hillel Rapoport, 2008. "Brain Drain and Human Capital Formation in Developing Countries: Winners and Losers," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(528), pages 631-652, April.
    4. Banerjee, Biswajit, 1984. "The probability, size and uses of remittances from urban to rural areas in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 293-311, December.
    5. Ms. Dalia S Hakura & Mr. Ralph Chami & Mr. Peter J Montiel, 2009. "Remittances: An Automatic Output Stabilizer?," IMF Working Papers 2009/091, International Monetary Fund.
    6. Taylor, J. Edward & Mora, Jorge & Adams, Richard H., Jr. & Lopez-Feldman, Alejandro, 2005. "Remittances, Inequality and Poverty: Evidence from Rural Mexico," Working Papers 60287, University of California, Davis, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    7. Adams, Richard Jr. & Page, John, 2005. "Do international migration and remittances reduce poverty in developing countries?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(10), pages 1645-1669, October.
    8. Riccardo Faini, 2007. "Remittances and the Brain Drain: Do More Skilled Migrants Remit More?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 21(2), pages 177-191, May.
    9. Ahmed, Vaqar & Sugiyarto, Guntur & Jha, Shikha, 2010. "Remittances and Household Welfare: A Case Study of Pakistan," ADB Economics Working Paper Series 194, Asian Development Bank.
    10. World Bank, 2011. "World Development Indicators 2011," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2315.
    11. Yoko Niimi & Caglar Ozden & Maurice Schiff, 2010. "Remittances and the Brain Drain: Skilled Migrants Do Remit Less," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 97-98, pages 123-141.
    12. HwaJung Choi, 2007. "Are Remittances Insurance? Evidence from Rainfall Shocks in the Philippines," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 21(2), pages 219-248, May.
    13. Adams, Richard H., 2002. "Precautionary saving from different sources of income - evidence from rural Pakistan," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2761, The World Bank.
    14. Adams, Richard Jr. & Page, John, 2003. "Poverty, Inequality and Growth in Selected Middle East and North Africa Countries, 1980-2000," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(12), pages 2027-2048, December.
    15. Gemechu Ayana Aga & Christian Eigen-Zucchi & Sonia Plaza & Ani Rudra Silwal, 2013. "Migration and Development Brief, No. 20," World Bank Publications - Reports 17020, The World Bank Group.
    16. Acosta, Pablo & Calderon, Cesar & Fajnzylber, Pablo & Lopez, Humberto, 2008. "What is the Impact of International Remittances on Poverty and Inequality in Latin America?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 89-114, January.
    17. Stephen Devadoss & John Foltz, 1996. "Evaluation of Factors Influencing Student Class Attendance and Performance," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 78(3), pages 499-507.
    18. Piyasiri Wickramasekara, 2014. "Labour Migration in South Asia: A Review of Issues, Policies and Practices," Working Papers id:6347, eSocialSciences.
    19. repec:adr:anecst:y:2010:i:97-98:p:06 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kul Kapri & Stuti Jha, 2020. "Impact of remittances on household health care expenditure: Evidence from the Nepal Living Standards Survey," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(3), pages 991-1008, August.
    2. Genc, Ismail H., 2022. "Are Indian Subcontinent remittance markets connected to each other?," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    3. Mawussé K. N. Okey, 2017. "Does migration promote industrial development in Africa?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 37(1), pages 228-247.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ratha, Dilip & Mohapatra, Sanket & Scheja, Elina, 2011. "Impact of migration on economic and social development : a review of evidence and emerging issues," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5558, The World Bank.
    2. Apergis, Nicholas & Cooray, Arusha, 2018. "Asymmetric real exchange rates and poverty: The role of remittances," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 111-119.
    3. Elisabetta Lodigiani, 2009. "Diaspora Externalities as a Cornerstone of the New Brain Drain Literature," DEM Discussion Paper Series 09-03, Department of Economics at the University of Luxembourg.
    4. SeyedSoroosh Azizi, 2021. "The impacts of workers’ remittances on poverty and inequality in developing countries," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(2), pages 969-991, February.
    5. Arusha Cooray & Nabamita Dutta & Sushanta Mallick, 2016. "Does female human capital formation matter for the income effect of remittances? Evidence from developing countries," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(4), pages 458-478, October.
    6. Björn NILSSON, 2019. "Education and migration: insights for policymakers," Working Paper 23ca9c54-061a-4d60-967c-f, Agence française de développement.
    7. Alexandra T Tapsoba & Pascale Combes Motel & Jean-Louis Combes, 2019. "Remittances, food security and climate variability: The case of Burkina Faso," CERDI Working papers halshs-02364775, HAL.
    8. Laurent Bossavie & Çağlar Özden, 2023. "Impacts of Temporary Migration on Development in Origin Countries," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 38(2), pages 249-294.
    9. Sankar Mukhopadhyay & Miaomiao Zou, 2020. "Will Skill-Based Immigration Policies Lead to Lower Remittances? An Analysis of the Relations between Education, Sponsorship, and Remittances," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(3), pages 489-508, March.
    10. Sanket Mohapatra & Dilip Ratha, 2010. "Forecasting migrant remittances during the global financial crisis," Migration Letters, Migration Letters, vol. 7(2), pages 203-213, October.
    11. Isaac Dadson & Ryuta Ray Kato, 2015. "Remittances and the Brain Drain in Ghana: A Computable General Equilibrium Approach," Working Papers EMS_2015_04, Research Institute, International University of Japan.
    12. Ambrosius, Christian, 2012. "Are remittances a "catalyst" for financial access? Evidence from Mexican household data," Discussion Papers 2012/8, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.
    13. Ibrahim Sirkeci & Jeffrey H. Cohen & Dilip Ratha, 2012. "Migration and Remittances during the Global Financial Crisis and Beyond," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 13092.
    14. Zhu, Heng, 2016. "Remittance frequency, transaction fees and household impacts," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235561, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    15. Hrushikesh Mallick, 2017. "Determinants of workers’ remittances: An empirical investigation for a panel of eleven developing Asian economies," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(12), pages 2875-2900, December.
    16. Ziesemer, Thomas H.W., 2010. "The impact of the credit crisis on poor developing countries: Growth, worker remittances, accumulation and migration," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 1230-1245, September.
    17. Luca Marchiori & I-Ling Shen & Frédéric Docquier, 2013. "Brain Drain In Globalization: A General Equilibrium Analysis From The Sending Countries' Perspective," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 51(2), pages 1582-1602, April.
    18. Elisabetta Lodigiani & Luca Marchiori & I-Ling Shen, 2016. "Revisiting the Brain Drain Literature with Insights from a Dynamic General Equilibrium World Model," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(4), pages 557-573, April.
    19. repec:lic:licosd:26510 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Frédéric DOCQUIER & Joël MACHADO, 2015. "Remittance and Migration Prospects for the Twenty-First Century," Working Papers P133, FERDI.
    21. Cuong Viet Nguyen & Thai Pham Minh, 2016. "Are migrants in large cities underpaid? Evidence from Vietnam," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-23, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bpj:bejeap:v:14:y:2014:i:3:p:28:n:17. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.