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Do Migrants Send Remittances as a Way of Self-Insurance? Evidence from a Representative Immigrant Survey

Author

Listed:
  • Batista, Catia

    (Nova School of Business and Economics)

  • Umblijs, Janis

    (Institute for Social Research, Oslo)

Abstract

Do migrants send remittances as a way of obtaining insurance? While this motive is theoretically suggested in the literature, the question of identifying this relationship empirically has only begun to be explored. Using a unique representative survey of 1500 immigrants in the Greater Dublin Area, Ireland, we find a positive and significant relationship between risk aversion and remittance behavior. Risk-averse individuals are more likely to send remittances home and are, on average, likely to remit a higher amount, after controlling for a broad range of individual and group characteristics. Consistent with a "purchase of self-insurance" motive to remit, we also provide evidence of more remittances sent by risk averse immigrants facing higher wage risks and remitting to individuals with more financial resources.

Suggested Citation

  • Batista, Catia & Umblijs, Janis, 2014. "Do Migrants Send Remittances as a Way of Self-Insurance? Evidence from a Representative Immigrant Survey," IZA Discussion Papers 7984, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7984
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    Cited by:

    1. Zhan, Crystal & Deole, Sumit, 2022. "Economic Preferences and the Self-selection of Immigrants," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1156, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    2. Catia Batista & Gaia Narciso, 2018. "Migrant Remittances and Information Flows: Evidence from a Field Experiment," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 32(1), pages 203-219.
    3. Catia Batista & Janis Umblijs, 2014. "Migration, risk attitudes, and entrepreneurship: evidence from a representative immigrant survey," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 3(1), pages 1-25, December.
    4. Christian Dustmann & Joseph-Simon Görlach, 2016. "The Economics of Temporary Migrations," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 54(1), pages 98-136, March.
    5. Marina De Angelis & Marcella Corsi & Daniele Frigeri, 2017. "The determinants of entrepreneurship for migrants in Italy. Do Italian migrants become entrepreneurs by “opportunity” or through “necessity”?," Working Papers CEB 17-031, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    6. Loxha Arbëresha, 2019. "Do Remittances reduce poverty in Kosovo? - A counterfactual analysis," South East European Journal of Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 14(2), pages 117-132, December.
    7. Catia Batista & Ana Isabel Costa, 2016. "Assessing the role of social networks on migrant labor market outcomes: Evidence from a representative immigrant survey," FEUNL Working Paper Series novaf:wp1601, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Economia.
    8. Sumit S. Deole & Marc Oliver Rieger, 2023. "The immigrant-native gap in risk and time preferences in Germany: levels, socio-economic determinants, and recent changes," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(2), pages 743-778, April.
    9. Catia Batista & Francesco Cestari, 2016. "Migrant intentions to return: The role of migrant social networks," NOVAFRICA Working Paper Series wp1602, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Nova School of Business and Economics, NOVAFRICA.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    migration; risk aversion; remittances; insurance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • F24 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Remittances
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General
    • J08 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics Policies
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

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