Remittances and inequality: A dynamic migration model

I. Ling Shen; Frédéric Docquier; Hillel Rapoport

doi:10.1007/s10888-009-9110-y

Remittances and inequality: A dynamic migration model

I. Ling Shen
, Frédéric Docquier
, Hillel Rapoport

Department of Economics

Université catholique de Louvain
Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research
Université de Lille
University College London
CEPREMAP-ENS

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

48 Scopus citations

Abstract

We develop a model to study the effects of migration and remittances on inequality in the origin communities. While wealth inequality is shown to be monotonically reduced along the time-span, the short- and the long-run impacts on income inequality may be of opposite signs, suggesting that the dynamic relationship between migration/remittances and inequality may well be characterized by an inverse U-shaped pattern. This is consistent with the findings of the empirical literature, yet offers a different interpretation from the usually assumed migration network effects. With no need to endogenize migration costs through the role of migration networks, we generate the same results via intergenerational wealth accumulation.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	197-220
Number of pages	24
Journal	Journal of Economic Inequality
Volume	8
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10888-009-9110-y
State	Published - Jun 2010

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Acknowledgements The authors would like to express their gratitude to two anonymous referees for their valuable comments and suggestions. They also thank the participants at the 2003 Meeting of the European Economic Association in Venice, the XVIII Villa Mondragone International Economic Seminar, the NAKE Research Day 2006 in Amsterdam, the 2006 All China Economics International Conference and various seminar audiences. Frédéric Docquier and I-Ling Shen acknowledge financial support from the Belgian Federal Government (PAI grant P6/07, “Economic Policy and Finance in the Global Economy: Equilibrium Analysis and Social Evaluation”) and from the Belgian French-speaking community (Grant ARC 03/08-302 “New Macroeconomic Approaches to the Development Problem”). Hillel Rapoport acknowledges support from the Adar Fund.

Funding

Acknowledgements The authors would like to express their gratitude to two anonymous referees for their valuable comments and suggestions. They also thank the participants at the 2003 Meeting of the European Economic Association in Venice, the XVIII Villa Mondragone International Economic Seminar, the NAKE Research Day 2006 in Amsterdam, the 2006 All China Economics International Conference and various seminar audiences. Frédéric Docquier and I-Ling Shen acknowledge financial support from the Belgian Federal Government (PAI grant P6/07, “Economic Policy and Finance in the Global Economy: Equilibrium Analysis and Social Evaluation”) and from the Belgian French-speaking community (Grant ARC 03/08-302 “New Macroeconomic Approaches to the Development Problem”). Hillel Rapoport acknowledges support from the Adar Fund.

Funders	Funder number
Adar Fund
Belgian Federal Government
Pai Chai University	P6/07, ARC 03/08-302

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities

Keywords

Inequality
Migration
Remittances

Access to Document

10.1007/s10888-009-9110-y

Cite this

@article{12debc21311e44dab924a911ac6ae9bb,

title = "Remittances and inequality: A dynamic migration model",

abstract = "We develop a model to study the effects of migration and remittances on inequality in the origin communities. While wealth inequality is shown to be monotonically reduced along the time-span, the short- and the long-run impacts on income inequality may be of opposite signs, suggesting that the dynamic relationship between migration/remittances and inequality may well be characterized by an inverse U-shaped pattern. This is consistent with the findings of the empirical literature, yet offers a different interpretation from the usually assumed migration network effects. With no need to endogenize migration costs through the role of migration networks, we generate the same results via intergenerational wealth accumulation.",

keywords = "Inequality, Migration, Remittances",

author = "Shen, \{I. Ling\} and Fr{\'e}d{\'e}ric Docquier and Hillel Rapoport",

note = "Funding Information: Acknowledgements The authors would like to express their gratitude to two anonymous referees for their valuable comments and suggestions. They also thank the participants at the 2003 Meeting of the European Economic Association in Venice, the XVIII Villa Mondragone International Economic Seminar, the NAKE Research Day 2006 in Amsterdam, the 2006 All China Economics International Conference and various seminar audiences. Fr{\'e}d{\'e}ric Docquier and I-Ling Shen acknowledge financial support from the Belgian Federal Government (PAI grant P6/07, {\textquotedblleft}Economic Policy and Finance in the Global Economy: Equilibrium Analysis and Social Evaluation{\textquotedblright}) and from the Belgian French-speaking community (Grant ARC 03/08-302 {\textquotedblleft}New Macroeconomic Approaches to the Development Problem{\textquotedblright}). Hillel Rapoport acknowledges support from the Adar Fund.",

year = "2010",

month = jun,

doi = "10.1007/s10888-009-9110-y",

language = "אנגלית",

volume = "8",

pages = "197--220",

journal = "Journal of Economic Inequality",

issn = "1569-1721",

publisher = "Springer Netherlands",

number = "2",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Remittances and inequality

T2 - A dynamic migration model

AU - Shen, I. Ling

AU - Docquier, Frédéric

AU - Rapoport, Hillel

N1 - Funding Information: Acknowledgements The authors would like to express their gratitude to two anonymous referees for their valuable comments and suggestions. They also thank the participants at the 2003 Meeting of the European Economic Association in Venice, the XVIII Villa Mondragone International Economic Seminar, the NAKE Research Day 2006 in Amsterdam, the 2006 All China Economics International Conference and various seminar audiences. Frédéric Docquier and I-Ling Shen acknowledge financial support from the Belgian Federal Government (PAI grant P6/07, “Economic Policy and Finance in the Global Economy: Equilibrium Analysis and Social Evaluation”) and from the Belgian French-speaking community (Grant ARC 03/08-302 “New Macroeconomic Approaches to the Development Problem”). Hillel Rapoport acknowledges support from the Adar Fund.

PY - 2010/6

Y1 - 2010/6

N2 - We develop a model to study the effects of migration and remittances on inequality in the origin communities. While wealth inequality is shown to be monotonically reduced along the time-span, the short- and the long-run impacts on income inequality may be of opposite signs, suggesting that the dynamic relationship between migration/remittances and inequality may well be characterized by an inverse U-shaped pattern. This is consistent with the findings of the empirical literature, yet offers a different interpretation from the usually assumed migration network effects. With no need to endogenize migration costs through the role of migration networks, we generate the same results via intergenerational wealth accumulation.

AB - We develop a model to study the effects of migration and remittances on inequality in the origin communities. While wealth inequality is shown to be monotonically reduced along the time-span, the short- and the long-run impacts on income inequality may be of opposite signs, suggesting that the dynamic relationship between migration/remittances and inequality may well be characterized by an inverse U-shaped pattern. This is consistent with the findings of the empirical literature, yet offers a different interpretation from the usually assumed migration network effects. With no need to endogenize migration costs through the role of migration networks, we generate the same results via intergenerational wealth accumulation.

KW - Inequality

KW - Migration

KW - Remittances

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/77951978924

U2 - 10.1007/s10888-009-9110-y

DO - 10.1007/s10888-009-9110-y

M3 - ???researchoutput.researchoutputtypes.contributiontojournal.article???

AN - SCOPUS:77951978924

SN - 1569-1721

VL - 8

SP - 197

EP - 220

JO - Journal of Economic Inequality

JF - Journal of Economic Inequality

IS - 2

ER -

Remittances and inequality: A dynamic migration model

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this