Network Effects in Migrant Remittances

Evidence From Household, Sibling, and Village Ties in Nang Rong, Thailand

Bibliographic Data

ID3758799
AuthorsF Garip (0000-0002-6729-2728, Harvard University), Burak Eskici (Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA), Ben Snyder (Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA)
Year2015
Volume59
Issue9
Pages1066-1082
Publication date2015-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Behavioral Scientist (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7642 • E-ISSN: 1552-3381
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0002764215580614
OpenAlexW2120860229
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited58

Migrant remittances comprise an important capital source for developing countries. Research connects migrants' remittance behavior to altruism, exchange, insurance, and investment motives or to a desire to maintain options available through origin communities. This study provides an alternative "network" perspective: Remittance behavior may depend on the remitting patterns of those in one's social ties-(a) to members of the origin household; (b) to members of "sibling" households, where a member of the ego household has a sibling; and (c) to members of the origin village. We use censuses from 51 villages in Nang Rong, where one in four residents migrated to internal destinations in either 1994 or 2000, and about one in two migrants remitted to their origin households. We observe network effects: Migrants' likelihood of remitting increases with the number of remitters in the household and with the share of remitters in the village, net of village and year fixed effects, and other potential confounders. We link the former pattern to inheritance-seeking behavior in the household, and the latter to shared norms in the village

Altruism (biology) · Business · Country of origin · Demographic economics · Destinations · Economic growth · Economics · Geography · Interpersonal ties · Investment (military) · Political science · Remittance · Sibling · Social capital · Social network (sociolinguistics) · Sociology · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare · Psychology · Social Psychology · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies

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