Another Consequence of the Economic Crisis: A Decrease in Migrants’ Remittances

Abstract

The effects of the current global economic crisis are widespread. The economic downturn has affected large sectors of the population in developed and developing countries and international immigrants have not been the exception. This paper documents the recent slowdown in workers’ remittances, the money that international immigrants send to their countries of origin. Current data indicates that remittance flows have decreased for all regions of the world. Latin America stands out by reporting an almost zero percent growth rate of remittances for 2008. Among Latin American countries, Mexico (the largest recipient of remittances in the region in terms of volume) seems to be the most affected with a decrease of more than US$900 million between 2007 and 2008. This article also presents evidence of the impact of some of the factors associated with the current economic crisis on remittances flows. The results indicate that there is a strong link between housing activity in the United States and remittances flows.

Keywords: migration, remittances, financial crisis

JEL Classification: F22, F24, R31