IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecmode/v59y2016icp32-45.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

On interactions between remittance outflows and Saudi Arabian macroeconomy: New evidence from wavelets

Author

Listed:
  • Hathroubi, Salem
  • Aloui, Chaker

Abstract

The effect of workers' remittance outflows on macroeconomic variables of host countries is a controversial issue. The purpose of this paper is to study lead/lag interactions between workers' remittance outflows and macroeconomic leading variables in Saudi Arabia for 1980–2013 within a time–frequency framework. To this end, we perform three wavelet variants, namely, the wavelet power spectrum, the cross-spectrum wavelet, and the coherence wavelet. We show that remittance outflows are strongly associated with the main Saudi aggregates and that their relationships change across time scale and frequency bands. In the short- and mid-term, real output growth and government expenditures guide remittance outflows. More specifically, government expenditures positively affect remittance shares to real outputs. In addition, the wavelet analysis reveals a positive causality link from the active population to remittances over low-frequency bands. These outcomes have several prominent implications and point to practical recommendations in terms of monetary policy coordination and financial stability.

Suggested Citation

  • Hathroubi, Salem & Aloui, Chaker, 2016. "On interactions between remittance outflows and Saudi Arabian macroeconomy: New evidence from wavelets," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 32-45.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:59:y:2016:i:c:p:32-45
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2016.06.018
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S026499931630181X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econmod.2016.06.018?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. Timothy J. Hatton & Jeffrey G. Williamson, 2002. "What Fundamentals Drive World Migration?," NBER Working Papers 9159, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Naufal, George S & Termos, Ali, 2009. "The Responsiveness of Remittances to the Oil Price: The Case of the GCC," IZA Discussion Papers 4277, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Ibrahim Ahamada & Dramane Coulibaly, 2013. "Remittances And Growth In Sub‐Saharan African Countries: Evidence From A Panel Causality Test," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(3), pages 310-324, April.
    4. Giovanni Peri & Francesc Ortega, 2009. "The Causes and Effects of International Migrations: Evidence from OECD Countries 1980-2005," Working Papers 78, University of California, Davis, Department of Economics.
    5. Paresh Kumar Narayan & Seema Narayan & Sagarika Mishra, 2011. "Do Remittances Induce Inflation? Fresh Evidence from Developing Countries," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 77(4), pages 914-933, April.
    6. Imai, Katsushi S. & Gaiha, Raghav & Ali, Abdilahi & Kaicker, Nidhi, 2014. "Remittances, growth and poverty: New evidence from Asian countries," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 524-538.
    7. Luís Aguiar-Conraria & Maria Soares, 2011. "Oil and the macroeconomy: using wavelets to analyze old issues," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 645-655, May.
    8. Connel Fullenkamp & Mr. Thomas F. Cosimano & Michael T. Gapen & Mr. Ralph Chami & Mr. Peter J Montiel & Mr. Adolfo Barajas, 2008. "Macroeconomic Consequences of Remittances," IMF Occasional Papers 2008/001, International Monetary Fund.
    9. Jarno Kiviaho & Jussi Nikkinen & Vanja Piljak & Timo Rothovius, 2014. "The Co†movement Dynamics of European Frontier Stock Markets," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 20(3), pages 574-595, June.
    10. Cooray Arusha & Mallick Debdulal, 2013. "International business cycles and remittance flows," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 13(1), pages 515-547, September.
    11. Ortega, Francesc & Peri, Giovanni, 2009. "The Causes and Effects of International Labor Mobility: Evidence from OECD Countries 1980-2005," MPRA Paper 19183, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Chowdhury, Mamta B., 2011. "Remittances flow and financial development in Bangladesh," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 2600-2608.
    13. Karpestam, Peter & Andersson, Fredrik N G, 2011. "International Remittances – A proposal how to test hypotheses about determinants of remittances with macroeconomic time series," Working Papers 2011:1, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    14. Mr. Saad A. Alshahrani & Mr. Ali J Al-Sadiq, 2014. "Economic Growth and Government Spending in Saudi Arabia: an Empirical Investigation," IMF Working Papers 2014/003, International Monetary Fund.
    15. Beine, Michel & Lodigiani, Elisabetta & Vermeulen, Robert, 2012. "Remittances and financial openness," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(5), pages 844-857.
    16. Acosta, Pablo A. & Lartey, Emmanuel K.K. & Mandelman, Federico S., 2009. "Remittances and the Dutch disease," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(1), pages 102-116, September.
    17. Vargas-Silva, Carlos, 2008. "Are remittances manna from heaven? A look at the business cycle properties of remittances," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 290-303, December.
    18. Termos, Ali & Naufal, George & Genc, Ismail, 2013. "Remittance outflows and inflation: The case of the GCC countries," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 120(1), pages 45-47.
    19. Rao, B. Bhaskara & Hassan, Gazi Mainul, 2011. "A panel data analysis of the growth effects of remittances," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(1-2), pages 701-709, January.
    20. Morley, Bruce, 2006. "Causality between economic growth and immigration: An ARDL bounds testing approach," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 90(1), pages 72-76, January.
    21. Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes & Susan Pozo, 2006. "Migration, Remittances, and Male and Female Employment Patterns," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 222-226, May.
    22. Jouini, Jamel, 2015. "Economic growth and remittances in Tunisia: Bi-directional causal links," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 355-373.
    23. Uwaoma G. Nwaogu & Michael J. Ryan, 2015. "FDI, Foreign Aid, Remittance and Economic Growth in Developing Countries," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(1), pages 100-115, February.
    24. El-Sakka, M. I. T. & McNabb, Robert, 1999. "The Macroeconomic Determinants of Emigrant Remittances," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(8), pages 1493-1502, August.
    25. Levine, Ross & Renelt, David, 1992. "A Sensitivity Analysis of Cross-Country Growth Regressions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(4), pages 942-963, September.
    26. Rua, António & Nunes, Luís C., 2009. "International comovement of stock market returns: A wavelet analysis," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 632-639, September.
    27. Timo Baas & Silvia Maja Melzer, 2012. "The Macroeconomic Impact of Remittances: A sending country perspective," Norface Discussion Paper Series 2012021, Norface Research Programme on Migration, Department of Economics, University College London.
    28. Ronald Kumar & Peter Stauvermann, 2014. "Exploring the nexus between remittances and economic growth: a study of Bangladesh," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 61(4), pages 399-415, December.
    29. Aggarwal, Reena & Demirgüç-Kunt, Asli & Pería, Maria Soledad Martínez, 2011. "Do remittances promote financial development?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 255-264, November.
    30. Ceyhun Bora Durdu & Serdar Sayan, 2010. "Emerging Market Business Cycles with Remittance Fluctuations," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 57(2), pages 303-325, June.
    31. Kumar, Ronald Ravinesh, 2013. "Remittances and economic growth: A study of Guyana," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 462-472.
    32. Joharji Ghazi A. & Starr Martha A, 2011. "Fiscal Policy and Growth in Saudi Arabia," Review of Middle East Economics and Finance, De Gruyter, vol. 6(3), pages 24-45, February.
    33. Nyamongo, Esman Morekwa & Misati, Roseline N. & Kipyegon, Leonard & Ndirangu, Lydia, 2012. "Remittances, financial development and economic growth in Africa," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 64(3), pages 240-260.
    34. Francesc Ortega & Giovanni Peri, 2009. "The Causes and Effects of International Migrations: Evidence from OECD Countries 1980-2005," NBER Working Papers 14833, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    35. Serdar Sayan, 2004. "Guest Workers' Remittances and Output Fluctuations in Host and Home Countries : The Case of Remittances from Turkish Workers in Germany," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(6), pages 68-81, November.
    36. Lim, Sokchea & Simmons, Walter O., 2015. "Do remittances promote economic growth in the Caribbean Community and Common Market?," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 42-59.
    37. Roueff, Francois & von Sachs, Rainer, 2011. "Locally stationary long memory estimation," LIDAM Reprints ISBA 2011009, Université catholique de Louvain, Institute of Statistics, Biostatistics and Actuarial Sciences (ISBA).
    38. Gupta, Sanjeev & Pattillo, Catherine A. & Wagh, Smita, 2009. "Effect of Remittances on Poverty and Financial Development in Sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 104-115, January.
    39. Bayangos, Veronica & Jansen, Karel, 2011. "Remittances and Competitiveness: The Case of the Philippines," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(10), pages 1834-1846.
    40. Åule Akkoyunlu & Konstantin A. Kholodilin, 2008. "A Link Between Workers' Remittances and Business Cycles in Germany and Turkey," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(5), pages 23-40, September.
    41. Michael T. Gapen & Mr. Ralph Chami & Mr. Peter J Montiel & Mr. Adolfo Barajas & Connel Fullenkamp, 2009. "Do Workers’ Remittances Promote Economic Growth?," IMF Working Papers 2009/153, International Monetary Fund.
    42. repec:bla:opecrv:v:33:y:2009:i:3-4:p:184-197 is not listed on IDEAS
    43. Ibrahim Ahamada & Dramane Coulibaly, 2013. "Remittances and growth in Sub-Saharan African countries," Post-Print hal-01385853, HAL.
    44. Mthuli Ncube & Zuzana Brixiova, 2013. "Working Paper 188 - Remittances and their Macroeconomic Impact: Evidence from Africa," Working Paper Series 996, African Development Bank.
    45. World Bank, 2014. "World Development Indicators 2014," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 18237.
    46. Granger, C W J, 1969. "Investigating Causal Relations by Econometric Models and Cross-Spectral Methods," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 37(3), pages 424-438, July.
    47. Alkhathlan, Khalid A., 2013. "The nexus between remittance outflows and growth: A study of Saudi Arabia," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 695-700.
    48. Roueff, François & von Sachs, Rainer, 2011. "Locally stationary long memory estimation," Stochastic Processes and their Applications, Elsevier, vol. 121(4), pages 813-844, April.
    49. repec:hal:pseose:hal-00674688 is not listed on IDEAS
    50. Aguiar-Conraria, Luís & Azevedo, Nuno & Soares, Maria Joana, 2008. "Using wavelets to decompose the time–frequency effects of monetary policy," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 387(12), pages 2863-2878.
    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. Alsamara, Mouyad & Mrabet, Zouhair, 2023. "Investigating the impact of remittance outflows and oil price on economic growth in Gulf Cooperation Council countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    2. Pablo Aguilar Perez, 2024. "Global Spillovers of US Monetary Policy: New Insights from the Remittance Channel," Working Papers hal-04706954, HAL.
    3. Ines Kersan-Škabiæ & Lela Tijaniæ, 2022. "The impact of remittances on economic development in the Central and Eastern European Countries," Zbornik radova Ekonomskog fakulteta u Rijeci/Proceedings of Rijeka Faculty of Economics, University of Rijeka, Faculty of Economics and Business, vol. 40(2), pages 281-296.
    4. Rashid Sbia & Helmi Hamdi, 2020. "Remittances and inflation in OPEC countries:Evidence from bias-corrected least-squares dummy variable (CLSDV) estimator," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 40(3), pages 2471-2483.
    5. Md. Saiful Islam & Ibrahim A. Alhamad, 2023. "Do personal remittance outflows impede economic growth in Saudi Arabia? The role of trade, labor force, human, and physical capital," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-9, December.
    6. Ghassan, Hassan & Alhajhoj, Hassan R. & Balli, Faruk, 2018. "Bi-Demographic Changes and Current Account using SVAR Modeling: Evidence from Saudi Arabia," MPRA Paper 93013, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 01 Feb 2019.
    7. Alshammari Nayef & Faras Reyadh & Alshuwaiee Wael, 2022. "Economic and Political Drivers of Remittance Transfer," South East European Journal of Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 17(1), pages 54-67, June.
    8. Xingxing He & Korhan K. Gokmenoglu & Dervis Kirikkaleli & Syed Kumail Abbas Rizvi, 2023. "Co‐movement of foreign exchange rate returns and stock market returns in an emerging market: Evidence from the wavelet coherence approach," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(2), pages 1994-2005, April.
    9. Kakhkharov, Jakhongir & Akimov, Alexandr & Rohde, Nicholas, 2017. "Transaction costs and recorded remittances in the post-Soviet economies: Evidence from a new dataset on bilateral flows," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 98-107.
    10. Ololade Periola & Monsurat Foluke Salami, 2024. "Remittance outflow, financial development and macroeconomic indicators: evidence from the UK," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 1-12, December.
    11. Azizi, SeyedSoroosh, 2018. "The impacts of workers' remittances on human capital and labor supply in developing countries," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 377-396.
    12. Hathroubi, Salem & Aloui, Chaker, 2022. "Oil price dynamics and fiscal policy cyclicality in Saudi Arabia: New evidence from partial and multiple wavelet coherences," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 149-160.
    13. Taheri Bazkhaneh , Saleh & Ehsani , Mohammad Ali & Gilak Hakimabadi , Mohammad Taqi & Farzinvash , Asodollah, 2018. "Analysis of the Relationship between the Business Cycle and Inflation Gap in Time-Frequency Domain," Journal of Money and Economy, Monetary and Banking Research Institute, Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran, vol. 13(3), pages 401-422, July.
    14. Alsamara, Mouyad, 2022. "Do labor remittance outflows retard economic growth in Qatar? Evidence from nonlinear cointegration," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 1-9.
    15. Farea Mohammed Alharbi, 2022. "How Do the Remittance Outflows React to Economic Development in Saudi Arabia? Evidence from NARDL," Economies, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-12, April.
    16. Md. Saiful Islam & Anis ur Rehman & Imran Khan & Ibrahim Abdelrasuol & Md. Abu Raihan, 2024. "Remittance Outflow and Economic Growth Linkage: The Role of Trade,ICT, Human, and Physical Capital," SAGE Open, , vol. 14(2), pages 21582440241, June.

    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. Gloria Clarissa O. Dzeha, 2016. "The decipher, theory or empirics: a review of remittance studies," African Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Finance, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 5(2), pages 113-134.
    2. , Le Thanh Tung, 2015. "Remittances and Private Investment: Evidence in Asia and The Pacific Developing Countries," OSF Preprints a95ug, Center for Open Science.
    3. Sena Kimm Gnangnon, 2019. "Remittances Inflows and Trade Policy," Remittances Review, Remittances Review, vol. 4(2), pages 117-142, October.
    4. Le Thanh Tung, 2018. "The Impact Of Remittances On Domestic Investment In Developing Countries: Fresh Evidence From The Asia-Pacific Region," Organizations and Markets in Emerging Economies, Faculty of Economics, Vilnius University, vol. 9(2).
    5. Barajas, Adolfo & Chami, Ralph & Ebeke, Christian & Oeking, Anne, 2018. "What's different about monetary policy transmission in remittance-dependent countries?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 272-288.
    6. Njangang, Henri & Nembot Ndeffo, Luc & Noubissi Domguia, Edmond & Fosto Koyeu, Prevost, 2018. "The long-run and short-run effects of foreign direct investment, foreign aid and remittances on economic growth in African countries," MPRA Paper 89747, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Mohammad Salahuddin & Jeff Gow, 2015. "The relationship between economic growth and remittances in the presence of cross-sectional dependence," Journal of Developing Areas, Tennessee State University, College of Business, vol. 49(1), pages 207-221, January-M.
    8. Ilham Haouas & Naceur Kheraief & Arusha Cooray & Syed Jawad Hussain Shahzad, 2019. "Time-Varying Casual Nexuses Between Remittances and Financial Development in Some MENA Countries," Working Papers 1294, Economic Research Forum, revised 2019.
    9. Bashier Al-Abdulrazag & Musa Foudeh, 2022. "Does inflation reduce remittance outflows in Saudi Arabia?," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(1), pages 2141424-214, December.
    10. Ma, Yechi & Chen, Zhiguo & Shinwari, Riazullah & Khan, Zeeshan, 2021. "Financialization, globalization, and Dutch disease: Is Dutch disease exist for resources rich countries?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    11. Al-Abri, Almukhtar & Genc, Ismail H. & Naufal, George S, 2018. "The Impact of Government Spending on GDP in a Remitting Country," IZA Discussion Papers 11676, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Oluwasheyi S. Oladipo, 2020. "Migrant Workers' Remittances And Economic Growth: A Time Series Analysis," Journal of Developing Areas, Tennessee State University, College of Business, vol. 54(4), pages 75-88, October-D.
    13. Cazachevici, Alina & Havranek, Tomas & Horvath, Roman, 2020. "Remittances and economic growth: A meta-analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    14. Ait Benhamou, Zouhair & Cassin, Lesly, 2021. "The impact of remittances on savings, capital and economic growth in small emerging countries," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 789-803.
    15. Nasim Shah Shirazi & Sajid Amin Javed & Dawood Ashraf, 2018. "Remittances, Economic Growth and Poverty: A Case of African OIC Member Countries," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 57(2), pages 121-143.
    16. Azizi, SeyedSoroosh, 2018. "The impacts of workers' remittances on human capital and labor supply in developing countries," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 377-396.
    17. Giulia Bettin & Andrea F. Presbitero & Nikola L. Spatafora, 2017. "Remittances and Vulnerability in Developing Countries," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 31(1), pages 1-23.
    18. Cazachevici, Alina & Havranek, Tomas & Horvath, Roman, 2019. "Remittances and Economic Growth: A Quantitative Survey," MPRA Paper 96823, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Coulibaly, Dramane, 2015. "Remittances and financial development in Sub-Saharan African countries: A system approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 249-258.
    20. Konte M., 2014. "Do remittances not promote growth? : a bias-adjusted three-step mixture-of-regressions," MERIT Working Papers 2014-075, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Workers' remittances; Economic growth; Government expenditures; Wavelets;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C02 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - General - - - Mathematical Economics
    • C63 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Computational Techniques
    • E27 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Forecasting and Simulation: Models and Applications
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • F24 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Remittances

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:eee:ecmode:v:59:y:2016:i:c:p:32-45. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/30411 .

    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.