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

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  • 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.

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  • 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
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    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.

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    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

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