Remittances Channel and Fiscal Impact in the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia
42 Pages Posted: 27 Aug 2012
Date Written: April 2012
Abstract
This paper identifies a remittances channel that transmits exogenous shocks, such as business cycles in remittance-sending countries, to the public finances of remittance-receiving countries. Using panel data for remittance-receiving countries in the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia, three types of results emerge. First, remittances appear to be strongly procyclical vis-Ã-vis sending country income. Second, remittances tend to be spent on consumption of both imported and domestically produced goods, rather than on investment. Third, shocks in the sending countries are transmitted via remittances to the public finances - specifically, tax revenues - of receiving countries. In the case of the 2009 global downturn, this impact was particularly strong for several countries in the Caucasus and Central Asia, whereas in the subsequent recovery in 2010 virtually all receiving countries benefitted from an upturn in remittance-driven tax revenues.
Keywords: Private Demand, Tax Revenues, Instrumental Variables, Panel Data, International Factor Movements And International Business, Taxation, Subsidies, And Revenue, remittances, remittance, tax revenues, tax revenue, fiscal impact, impact of remittances, remittance inflows, migration, workers ? remittances, bilateral remittances, value of remittances, tax bases, remittance flows, effect of remittances, determinants of remittances, remittance channel, public finances, fiscal balance, primary fiscal balance, bilateral remittance, amount of remittances, fiscal space, capita remittances, remittances inflows, fiscal balances, per capita remittances, tax base, remitter, utilization of remittances, capit
JEL Classification: E20, E37
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation