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Impact of Remittances on Domestic Investment: A Panel Study of Six South Asian Countries

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  • Ranjan Kumar Dash

Abstract

Remittances inflow to South Asian countries increased significantly and is now one of the major sources of external finance overtaking traditional capital inflows such as foreign direct investment (FDI), foreign portfolio investment (FPI) and aid. However, the role of remittances in economic development has not been examined extensively, particularly for South Asian countries. This article examines the impact of remittances on domestic investment for South Asia over 1991–2017. Advanced panel estimation methods (unit root, cointegration and causality) are employed to account for potential country-specific heterogeneity and the endogeneity problem. Results of this study suggest that remittances increase domestic investment in the short term as well as in the long run for South Asia. This indicates that remittances are used not only for consumption purposes but also for investment activities such as human and physical capital development. The panel causality results suggest the presence of uni-directional causality running from remittances to domestic investment. Therefore, the result of this study supports the theoretical argument and previous empirical studies for other developing countries JEL: C3, 01, F3, F22

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  • Ranjan Kumar Dash, 2020. "Impact of Remittances on Domestic Investment: A Panel Study of Six South Asian Countries," South Asia Economic Journal, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, vol. 21(1), pages 7-30, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:soueco:v:21:y:2020:i:1:p:7-30
    DOI: 10.1177/1391561420903199
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    3. Van Bon Nguyen, 2023. "The remittance inflows - private investment nexus in Asian developing countries: does institutional quality matter?," Economic Research Guardian, Weissberg Publishing, vol. 13(1), pages 31-46, June.
    4. Azreen Benazir Abdullah Ahmed & Sakib Amin & Charles Harvie & Rabindra Nepal, 2021. "The Nexus Between Energy and Trade in South Asia: A Panel Analysis," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 40(2), pages 134-151, June.
    5. Su, Chi-Wei & Sun, Tiezhu & Ahmad, Shabbir & Mirza, Nawazish, 2021. "Does institutional quality and remittances inflow crowd-in private investment to avoid Dutch Disease? A case for emerging seven (E7) economies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    6. Chimere O. Iheonu & Simplice A. Asongu & Kingsley O. Odo & Patrick K. Ojiem, 2020. "Financial sector development and Investment in selected countries of the Economic Community of West African States: empirical evidence using heterogeneous panel data method," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 6(1), pages 1-15, December.
    7. Mesbah Fathy Sharaf & Abdelhalem Mahmoud Shahen, 2022. "The Threshold Impact of Remittances on Financial Development: New Evidence from Egypt," Working Papers 1545, Economic Research Forum, revised 20 Apr 2022.
    8. Henry Onoriode & Uche Collins Nwogwugwu & Chris Kalu & Maria Chinecherem Uzonwanne, 2024. "Effect of Tax Revenue on Investment in Nigeria," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 8(3), pages 2501-2520, March.
    9. Chimere O. Iheonu & Simplice A. Asongu & Kingsley O. Odo & Patrick K. Ojiem, 2020. "Financial Sector Development and Investment in Selected ECOWAS Countries: Empirical Evidence using Heterogeneous Panel Data Method," Research Africa Network Working Papers 20/045, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    10. Ranjan Kumar Dash, 2023. "Do Remittances Crowd-In or Crowd-Out Domestic Investment? An Empirical Analysis of 24 Low-Income Countries," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 14(2), pages 1177-1193, June.
    11. Titus Ayobami Ojeyinka & Cleopatra Oluseye Ibukun, 2024. "Do remittances mitigate poverty? Evidence from selected countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 1-28, June.
    12. Shashi Kant Chaudhary, PhD, 2022. "Remittances, Economic Growth and Investment Nexus: Evidence from Nepal," NRB Economic Review, Nepal Rastra Bank, Economic Research Department, vol. 34(1), pages 1-23, April.
    13. Genc, Ismail H., 2022. "Are Indian Subcontinent remittance markets connected to each other?," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    14. Md. Golam Mostafa. & Md. Abdul Wadud, 2024. "Worker’s Remittance and Socioeconomic Development: Evidence from Bangladesh," International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation, International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI), vol. 11(6), pages 190-198, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Remittances; domestic investment; panel data; South Asia;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C3 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables
    • F3 - International Economics - - International Finance
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration

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