IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v168y2023ics0305750x23000694.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Remittances and land change: A systematic review

Author

Listed:
  • Mack, Elizabeth A.
  • Sauls, Laura Aileen
  • Jokisch, Brad D.
  • Nolte, Kerstin
  • Schmook, Birgit
  • He, Yifan
  • Radel, Claudia
  • Allington, Ginger R.H.
  • Kelley, Lisa C.
  • Scott, Christian Kelly
  • Leisz, Stephen
  • Chi, Guangqing
  • Sagynbekova, Lira
  • Cuba, Nicholas
  • Henebry, Geoffrey M.

Abstract

Remittances—funds sent by migrants to family and friends back home—are an important source of global monetary flows, and they have implications for the maintenance and transformation of land systems. A number of published reviews have synthesized work on a variety of aspects of remittances (e.g., rural livelihoods, disasters, and economic development). To our knowledge, there are no reviews of work investigating the linkages between remittances and land change, broadly understood. This knowledge gap is important to address because researchers have recognized that remittances flows are a mechanism that helps to explain how migration can affect land change. Thus, understanding the specific roles remittances play in land system changes should help to clarify the multiple processes associated with migration and their independent and interactive effects. To address the state of knowledge about the connection between remittances and land systems, this paper conducts a systematic review. Our review of 51 journal articles finds that the linkages uncovered were commonly subtle and/or indirect. Very few studies looked at the direct connections between receipt of remittances and quantitative changes in land. Most commonly, the relationship between remittances and land change was found to occur through pathways from labor migration to household income to agricultural development and productivity. We find four non-exclusive pathways through which households spend remittances with consequent changes to land systems: (1) agricultural crops and livestock, (2) agricultural labor and technologies, (3) land purchases, and (4) non-agricultural purchases and consumables. In the papers reviewed, these expenditures are linked to various land system change outcomes, including land use change, soil degradation, pasture degradation, afforestation/deforestation/degradation, agricultural intensification/extensification/diversification, and no impact. These findings suggest four avenues for future research. One avenue is the use of the theoretical lens of telecoupling to understand how remittances may produce wider-scale changes in land systems. A second avenue is further examination of the impacts of shocks and disturbances to remittance flows on land change both in migrant sending and in remittance receiving areas. A third avenue is scholarship that examines the extent that household uses of remittances have a “ripple effect” on land uses in nearby interlinked systems. A fourth avenue for future work is the use of spatially explicit modeling that leverages land cover and land use data based on imagery and other geospatial information.

Suggested Citation

  • Mack, Elizabeth A. & Sauls, Laura Aileen & Jokisch, Brad D. & Nolte, Kerstin & Schmook, Birgit & He, Yifan & Radel, Claudia & Allington, Ginger R.H. & Kelley, Lisa C. & Scott, Christian Kelly & Leisz,, 2023. "Remittances and land change: A systematic review," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:168:y:2023:i:c:s0305750x23000694
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2023.106251
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X23000694
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.worlddev.2023.106251?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. Giulia Bettin & Alberto Zazzaro, 2018. "The Impact of Natural Disasters on Remittances to Low- and Middle-Income Countries," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(3), pages 481-500, March.
    2. Nguyen, Duc Loc & Grote, Ulrike & Nguyen, Trung Thanh, 2019. "Migration, crop production and non-farm labor diversification in rural Vietnam," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 175-187.
    3. Marcus H. Böhme, 2015. "Does migration raise agricultural investment? An empirical analysis for rural Mexico," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 46(2), pages 211-225, March.
    4. Rigg, Jonathan, 2006. "Land, farming, livelihoods, and poverty: Rethinking the links in the Rural South," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 180-202, January.
    5. J. Edward Taylor & Alejandro Lopez-Feldman, 2010. "Does Migration Make Rural Households More Productive? Evidence from Mexico," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(1), pages 68-90.
    6. Arild Angelsen & Mariel Aguilar-Støen & John Herbert Ainembabazi & Edwin Castellanos & Matthew Taylor, 2020. "Migration, Remittances, and Forest Cover Change in Rural Guatemala and Chiapas, Mexico," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-23, March.
    7. Christian Ebeke & Jean-Louis Combes, 2013. "Do remittances dampen the effect of natural disasters on output growth volatility in developing countries?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(16), pages 2241-2254, June.
    8. Curtis Holder & Gregory Chase, 2012. "The role of remittances and decentralization of forest management in the sustainability of a municipal-communal pine forest in eastern Guatemala," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 25-43, February.
    9. Ayşegül Kayaoğlu, 2017. "Hometown associations, urban-to-rural collective remittances and rural development in Turkey," Remittances Review, Remittances Review, vol. 2(2), pages 121-136, October.
    10. Li, Fang & Feng, Shuyi & Lu, Hualiang & Qu, Futian & D’Haese, Marijke, 2021. "How do non-farm employment and agricultural mechanization impact on large-scale farming? A spatial panel data analysis from Jiangsu Province, China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    11. Dean Yang, 2008. "International Migration, Remittances and Household Investment: Evidence from Philippine Migrants’ Exchange Rate Shocks," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(528), pages 591-630, April.
    12. Richard Adams, 2011. "Evaluating the Economic Impact of International Remittances On Developing Countries Using Household Surveys: A Literature Review," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(6), pages 809-828.
    13. Caulfield, Mark & Bouniol, Judith & Fonte, Steven J. & Kessler, Aad, 2019. "How rural out-migrations drive changes to farm and land management: A case study from the rural Andes," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 594-603.
    14. Stark, Oded & Bloom, David E, 1985. "The New Economics of Labor Migration," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(2), pages 173-178, May.
    15. Alejandro López-Feldman & Daniel Escalona, 2017. "Remittances and labour allocation decisions at communities of origin: the case of rural Mexico," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(4), pages 238-242, February.
    16. Fox, Jonathan A & Bada, Xochitl, 2008. "Migrant Organization and Hometown Impacts in Rural Mexico," Center for Global, International and Regional Studies, Working Paper Series qt7jc3t42v, Center for Global, International and Regional Studies, UC Santa Cruz.
    17. Nadia Schoch & Bernd Steimann & Susan Thieme, 2010. "Migration and animal husbandry: Competing or complementary livelihood strategies. Evidence from Kyrgyzstan," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 34(3), pages 211-221, August.
    18. Sanket Mohapatra & George Joseph & Dilip Ratha, 2012. "Remittances and natural disasters: ex-post response and contribution to ex-ante preparedness," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 365-387, June.
    19. Freund, Caroline & Spatafora, Nikola, 2008. "Remittances, transaction costs, and informality," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 356-366, June.
    20. Ian G. Baird & Jefferson Fox, 2015. "How Land Concessions Affect Places Elsewhere: Telecoupling, Political Ecology, and Large-Scale Plantations in Southern Laos and Northeastern Cambodia," Land, MDPI, vol. 4(2), pages 1-18, May.
    21. Lihua Li & Chenggang Wang & Eduardo Segarra & Zhibiao Nan, 2013. "Migration, remittances, and agricultural productivity in small farming systems in Northwest China," China Agricultural Economic Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 5(1), pages 5-23, January.
    22. Karla Borja, 2012. "The Impact Of The Us Recession On Immigrant Remittances In Central America," Journal of International Commerce, Economics and Policy (JICEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 3(03), pages 1-24.
    23. Piras, Simone & Vittuari, Matteo & Möllers, Judith & Herzfeld, Thomas, 2018. "Remittance inflow and smallholder farming practices: The case of Moldova," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 70, pages 654-665.
    24. Anita Pugliese & Julie Ray & Neli Esipova, 2016. "Do remittances differ depending on migration pathway and length of stay?," Remittances Review, Remittances Review, vol. 1(1), pages 105-118, October.
    25. Rigg, Jonathan & Salamanca, Albert & Phongsiri, Monchai & Sripun, Mattara, 2018. "More farmers, less farming? Understanding the truncated agrarian transition in Thailand," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 327-337.
    26. Devesh KAPUR, 2004. "Remittances: The New Development Mantra?," G-24 Discussion Papers 29, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
    27. Nolte, Kerstin & Sipangule, Kacana & Wendt, Niels, 2022. "Agricultural households in times of crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic, livelihoods and land-use decisions," Open Access Publications from Kiel Institute for the World Economy 261843, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    28. Deepak Chaudhary, 2020. "Influence of Remittances on Socio-Economic Development in Rural Nepal," Remittances Review, Remittances Review, vol. 5(1), pages 83-96, April.
    29. Ronald Rindfuss & Martin Piotrowski & Barbara Entwisle & Jeffrey Edmeades & Katherine Faust, 2012. "Migrant remittances and the web of family obligations: Ongoing support among spatially extended kin in North-east Thailand, 1984–94," Population Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 66(1), pages 87-104.
    30. Bryceson, Deborah Fahy, 2002. "The Scramble in Africa: Reorienting Rural Livelihoods," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 725-739, May.
    31. Nadia Schoch & Bernd Steimann & Susan Thieme, 2010. "Migration and animal husbandry: Competing or complementary livelihood strategies. Evidence from Kyrgyzstan," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 34, pages 211-221, August.
    32. Lihua Li & Chenggang Wang & Eduardo Segarra & Zhibiao Nan, 2013. "Migration, remittances, and agricultural productivity in small farming systems in Northwest China," China Agricultural Economic Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 5(1), pages 5-23, January.
    33. Oded Stark & J. Taylor, 1989. "Relative deprivation and international migration oded stark," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 26(1), pages 1-14, February.
    34. Malika Abdelali‐Martini & Raid Hamza, 2014. "How Do Migration Remittances Affect Rural Livelihoods In Drylands?," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(4), pages 454-470, May.
    35. Amy Lynne Damon, 2010. "Agricultural Land Use and Asset Accumulation in Migrant Households: the Case of El Salvador," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(1), pages 162-189.
    36. Nolte, Kerstin & Sipangule, Kacana & Wendt, Niels, 2022. "Agricultural households in times of crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic, livelihoods and land-use decisions," Open Access Publications from Kiel Institute for the World Economy 266633, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    37. Ramon Felipe Bicudo da Silva & Mateus Batistella & Yue Dou & Emilio Moran & Sara McMillan Torres & Jianguo Liu, 2017. "The Sino-Brazilian Telecoupled Soybean System and Cascading Effects for the Exporting Country," Land, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-19, August.
    38. Russell, Sharon Stanton, 1986. "Remittances from international migration: A review in perspective," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 14(6), pages 677-696, June.
    39. Kapri, Kul & Ghimire, Shankar, 2020. "Migration, remittance, and agricultural productivity: Evidence from the Nepal Living Standard Survey," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 19(C).
    40. Oded Stark, 1991. "The Migration of Labor," Blackwell Books, Wiley Blackwell, number 1557860300, April.
    41. Nazneen Ferdous & Chandra Bhat, 2013. "A spatial panel ordered-response model with application to the analysis of urban land-use development intensity patterns," Journal of Geographical Systems, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 1-29, January.
    42. Radel, Claudia & Schmook, Birgit & Carte, Lindsey & Mardero, Sofia, 2018. "Toward a Political Ecology of Migration: Land, Labor Migration, and Climate Change in Northwestern Nicaragua," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 263-273.
    43. Johannes Sauer & Matthew Gorton & Sophia Davidova, 2015. "Migration and farm technical efficiency: evidence from Kosovo," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 46(5), pages 629-641, September.
    44. Fransen, Sonja & Mazzucato, Valentina, 2014. "Remittances and Household Wealth after Conflict: A Case Study on Urban Burundi," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 57-68.
    45. Chakir, Raja & Le Gallo, Julie, 2013. "Predicting land use allocation in France: A spatial panel data analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 114-125.
    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. Yang Wang & Chengchao Zuo & Mengke Zhu, 2024. "How Semi-Urbanisation Drives Expansion of Rural Construction Land in China: A Rural-Urban Interaction Perspective," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-17, January.
    2. Birgit Schmook & Lindsey Carte & Claudia Radel & Mariel Aguilar-Støen, 2023. "A Diversity of Migration and Land Couplings: An Introduction to the Special Issue “Migration and Land”," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-6, July.
    3. Regret Sunge & Calvin Mudzingiri, 2023. "A Systematic Literature Review on Migration and Remittances in Mountainous Regions: Key Takeaways for Phuthaditjhaba, Free State, South Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-25, October.
    4. Nazgul Esengulova & Pasquale Balena & Caterina De Lucia & Antonio Lopolito & Pasquale Pazienza, 2024. "Key Drivers of Land Use Changes in the Rural Area of Gargano (South Italy) and Their Implications for the Local Sustainable Development," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-19, January.

    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. Ubaid Ali & Mazhar Mughal & Lionel de Boisdeffre, 2023. "Migrant remittances, agriculture investment and cropping patterns," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(3), pages 899-920, September.
    2. Zhao, Sudan & Jiang, Yongmu, 2022. "Heterogeneous effects of rural–urban migration and migrant earnings on land efficiency: Empirical evidence from China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    3. 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.
    4. Nikeel Nishkar Kumar & Arvind Patel, 2022. "Income thresholds in the remittances-growth association? a case study of Fiji," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(19), pages 1815-1823, November.
    5. Eric Rougier & Nicolas Yol, 2018. "The volatility effect of diaspora’s location: A migration portfolio approach," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2018-09, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).
    6. 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.
    7. Hannes Warnecke-Berger, 2022. "The financialization of remittances and the individualization of development: A new power geometry of global development," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 54(4), pages 702-721, June.
    8. Ruixin Zhang & Lei Luo & Yuying Liu & Xinhong Fu, 2022. "Impact of Labor Migration on Chemical Fertilizer Application of Citrus Growers: Empirical Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-14, June.
    9. Nguyen, Duc Loc & Grote, Ulrike & Nguyen, Trung Thanh, 2019. "Migration, crop production and non-farm labor diversification in rural Vietnam," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 175-187.
    10. 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.
    11. Choithani, Chetan & van Duijne, Robbin Jan & Nijman, Jan, 2021. "Changing livelihoods at India’s rural–urban transition," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    12. Abebaw, Degnet & Admassie, Assefa & Kassa, Habtemariam & Padoch, Christine, 2020. "Can rural outmigration improve household food security? Empirical evidence from Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    13. Konan, Yao Silvère, 2017. "Post electoral crisis and international remittances: Evidence from Côte d'Ivoire," Economics Discussion Papers 2017-86, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    14. Zhe Chen & Apurbo Sarkar & Md. Shakhawat Hossain & Xiaojing Li & Xianli Xia, 2021. "Household Labour Migration and Farmers’ Access to Productive Agricultural Services: A Case Study from Chinese Provinces," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-20, October.
    15. Kostas Mavromaras & Alfiah Hasanah & Silvia Mendolia & Oleg Yerokhin, 2017. "Labour Migration, Food Expenditure, and Household Food Security in Eastern Indonesia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 93, pages 122-143, June.
    16. Koska, Onur A. & Saygin, Perihan Özge & Çağatay, Selim & Artal-Tur, Andrés, 2013. "International migration, remittances, and the human capital formation of Egyptian children," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 38-50.
    17. Zhou, Hong & Yan, Jianzhong & Lei, Kun & Wu, Ya & Sun, Laixiang, 2020. "Labor migration and the decoupling of the crop-livestock system in a rural mountainous area: Evidence from Chongqing, China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    18. López-Feldman, Alejandro & Chávez, Estefanía, 2017. "Remittances and Natural Resource Extraction: Evidence from Mexico," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 69-79.
    19. Alem, Yonas, 2018. "Shocks, Remittances and Household Consumption: A Dynamic System GMM Analysis," EfD Discussion Paper 18-2, Environment for Development, University of Gothenburg.
    20. Marcus H. Böhme, 2015. "Does migration raise agricultural investment? An empirical analysis for rural Mexico," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 46(2), pages 211-225, March.

    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:wdevel:v:168:y:2023:i:c:s0305750x23000694. 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/worlddev .

    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.