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Altruism and Workers’ Remittances: Evidence from Selected Countries in the Middle East and Central Asia

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  • Mr. Jacques Bouhga-Hagbe

Abstract

Workers' remittances have been playing an increasingly important role in the balance of payments of many countries and can significantly contribute to the strength of their external positions. Assessing the likely stability of remittance flows could be a valuable input to the analysis of their external vulnerabilities. This paper argues that "altruism," as a motive to send money home, would contribute to the stability of these flows. Using a simple framework that relates workers' remittances to agricultural GDP, which is used as an indicator of economic "hardship" in the home country, evidence suggests that altruism could have played an important role in the flow of remittances to Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan, and Tunisia in recent years.

Suggested Citation

  • Mr. Jacques Bouhga-Hagbe, 2006. "Altruism and Workers’ Remittances: Evidence from Selected Countries in the Middle East and Central Asia," IMF Working Papers 2006/130, International Monetary Fund.
    • Handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2006/130
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    Cited by:

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    2. Deodat E. Adenutsi, 2014. "macroeconomic determinants of workers’ remittances and compensation of employees in sub-saharan Africa," Journal of Developing Areas, Tennessee State University, College of Business, vol. 48(1), pages 337-360, January-M.
    3. Farid Makhlouf & Refk Selmi, 2021. "The role of remittances in times of socio-political unrest: Evidence from Tunisia," Working Papers hal-03263815, HAL.
    4. Farid Makhlouf, 2014. "Propriétés cycliques des transferts de fonds des migrants marocains," Working papers of CATT hal-01885146, HAL.
    5. Avdullah Hoti, 2015. "What Determines the Incidence and Size of Remittances: Evidence for Kosovo," Croatian Economic Survey, The Institute of Economics, Zagreb, vol. 17(2), pages 83-112, December.
    6. Moussir, Charaf-Eddine & Tabit, Safaa, 2016. "Macroeconomic Determinants of Migrants’ Remittances: Evidence from a Panel of Developing Countries," MPRA Paper 72956, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2016.
    7. Barua, Shubhasish & Majumder, Md. Alauddin & Akhtaruzzaman, Dr. Md., 2007. "Determinants of Workers’ Remittances in Bangladesh: An Empirical Study," MPRA Paper 15080, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Farid Makhlouf, 2014. "Propriétés cycliques des transferts de fonds des migrants marocains," Working Papers hal-01885146, HAL.
    9. Aaron Levi Garavito-Acosta & Maria Mercedes Collazos-Gaitan & Manuel Dario Hernandez-Bejarano & Enrique Montes-Uribe, 2019. "Migración internacional y determinantes de las remesas de trabajadores en Colombia," Borradores de Economia 1066, Banco de la Republica de Colombia.
    10. Hlasny, Vladimir & Alazzawi, Shireen, 2022. "Socioeconomic Mobility of Return Migrants: Evidence from Jordanian Labor Market Surveys," Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, vol. 56(3), pages 145-164.
    11. Schellenberg, Grant & Houle, Rene, 2008. "Remittance Behaviours Among Recent Immigrants in Canada," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2008312e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    12. World Bank, 2007. "Arab Republic of Egypt : Poverty Assessment Update, Volume 1. Main Report," World Bank Publications - Reports 7642, The World Bank Group.
    13. Billmeier, Andreas & Massa, Isabella, 2009. "What drives stock market development in emerging markets--institutions, remittances, or natural resources?," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 23-35, March.
    14. Vladimir Hlasny & Shireen AlAzzawi, 2020. "Return Migration and Earnings Mobility in Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia," Working Papers 562, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.

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