Remittances and household spending strategies

Globalised labour migration and remittances can help alleviate household poverty and provide supplemental income in many countries. Kyrgyzstan, like other Central Asian countries, has experienced dramatic geopolitical changes, economic reform, and rapid demographic shifts in the post-Soviet-Union era. Based on measurements of GDP, it is one of the most remittance-dependent countries in the world. This study uses data from the Life in Kyrgyzstan Study collected from 2011 to 2013 to break down household budgets into eight consumption categories as part of a detailed analysis of how varying remittance receipt is related to household spending. We address two methodological concerns: (1) the endogeneity of remittances and (2) population heterogeneity. In so doing, we find remittances have limited effects on household spending–while changes in remittances do yield small changes on the budget shares of food and medical expenses, no effects were found on other consumption shares. These results suggest that households in Kyrgyzstan may take remittances as permanent income and proportionally alter consumption shares along with changes in remittances. By focusing on a country whose GDP relies heavily on remittances, the findings increase our understanding of how remittances affect spending at the household level.

Files

Metadata

Work Title Remittances and household spending strategies
Subtitle evidence from the Life in Kyrgyzstan Study, 2011–2013
Access
Open Access
Creators
  1. Donghui Wang
  2. Annelise Hagedorn
  3. Guangqing Chi
License In Copyright (Rights Reserved)
Work Type Article
Publisher
  1. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies
Publication Date January 1, 2021
Publisher Identifier (DOI)
  1. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2019.1683442
Deposited November 15, 2021

Versions

Analytics

Collections

This resource is currently not in any collection.

Work History

Version 1
published

  • Created
  • Added Wang_et_al_2021_JEMS_Remittances_in_Kyrgyzstan.pdf
  • Added Creator Donghui Wang
  • Added Creator Annelise Hagedorn
  • Added Creator Guangqing Chi
  • Published
  • Updated
  • Updated
  • Updated