The macroeconomic consequences of remittances

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bahadir, Berrak; Chatterjee, Santanu; Lebesmuehlbacher, Thomas
• 署名单位: University of North Carolina; University of North Carolina Greensboro; University System of Georgia; University of Georgia; University System of Ohio; Xavier University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-1996
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jinteco.2018.01.010
• 发表日期: 2018
• 页码: 214-232
• 关键词: remittances; credit constraints; labor supply; output; INVESTMENT; consumption; welfare

摘要

This paper analyzes the dynamic absorption of remittances at the macroeconomic level, contrasting two possible effects on economic activity, depending on whether these accrue to hand-to-mouth wage earners or credit-constrained entrepreneurs. Using an open economy DSGE model with heterogeneous households, we show that the effects of remittances are inherently contractionary if they accrue to the first group, and expansionary when they accrue to the second group. Calibrating the model to the Philippines using both aggregate data as well as micro-evidence from the Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES), we show that accounting for both binding credit constraints and the internal distribution of remittances improves the model's fit to the data. Welfare gains result when the distribution of remittances is skewed towards entrepreneurs. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.