Remittances and financial development in Latin America and the Caribbean countries: A dynamic approach
Corresponding Author
Vincent Fromentin
University of Lorraine, Nancy, France
Correspondence
Vincent Fromentin, Centre Européen de Recherche en Économie Financière et Gestion des Entreprises (CEREFIGE), University of Lorraine, Nancy, France.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Vincent Fromentin
University of Lorraine, Nancy, France
Correspondence
Vincent Fromentin, Centre Européen de Recherche en Économie Financière et Gestion des Entreprises (CEREFIGE), University of Lorraine, Nancy, France.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Despite the importance of remittances in total international flows, the conclusion of the studies on the relationship between remittances and financial development, is still not completely unanimous, particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean. However, financial development matters for growth and poverty alleviation and financial inclusion have many beneficial effects for households. We examine the relationship between remittances and financial sector development with several dynamic panel data methods. We find a positive, significant, and robust bidirectional link between remittances and financial development for the panel of 32 countries.
REFERENCES
- Acosta, P. A., Baerg, N. G., & Mandelman, F. S. (2009). Financial development, remittances, and real exchange rate appreciation. Economic Review, 94(1), 1–12.
- Adams, R. H. (2009). The determinants of international remittances in developing countries. World Development, 37(1), 93–103.
- Aggarwal, R., Demirgüç-Kunt, A., & Martínez Pería, M. S. (2011). Do workers’ remittances promote financial development? Journal of Development Economics, 96(2), 255–264.
- Anzoategui, D., Demirgüç-Kunt, A., & Martínez Pería, M. S. (2014). Remittances and financial inclusion: Evidence from El Salvador. World Development, 54, 338–349.
- Arellano, M., & Bond, S. (1991). Some tests of specification for panel data: Monte Carlo evidence and an application to employment equations. The review of economic studies, 58(2), 277–297.
- Arellano, M., & Bover, O. (1995). Another look at the instrumental variables estimation of error components models. Journal of Econometrics, 68(1), 29–51.
- Baltagi, B. (2008). Econometric analysis of panel data. John Wiley & Sons.
- Beck, T., Demirgüç-Kunt, A., & Levine, R. (2007). Finance, inequality, and the poor. Journal of Economic Growth, 12(1), 27–49.
- Beck, T., Levine, R., & Loayza, N. (2000). Financial intermediation and growth—causality and causes. Journal of Monetary Economics, 46(1), 31–77.
- Bettin, G., Lucchettia, R., & Zazzaro, A. (2012). Financial development and remittances: Microeconometric evidence. Economics Letters, 115(2), 184–186.
- Blundell, R., & Bond, S. (1998). Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models. Journal of econometrics, 87(1), 115–143.
- Brown, R. P. C., Carmignani, F., & Fayad, G. (2013). Migrants’ remittances and financial development: Macro- and micro-level evidence of a perverse relationship. The World Economy, 36(5), 636–660.
- Calderon, C., Fajnzylber, P., & Lopez, J. H. (2008). Remittances and growth: The role of complementary policies. In P. Fajnzylber & J. H. Lopez (Eds.), Remittances and development: Lessons from Latin America. Washington, DC: World Bank.
10.1596/978-0-8213-6870-1_ch10 Google Scholar
- Chami, R., Barajas, A., Cosimano, T., Fullenkamp, C., Gapen, M., & Montiel, P. (2008). Macroeconomic consequences of remittances (IMF Occasional Paper No. 259). Washington, DC: International Monetary Fund.
- Chowdhury, M. B. (2011). Remittances flow and financial development in Bangladesh. Economic Modelling, 28(6), 2600–2608.
- Cooray, A. (2012). Migrant remittances, financial sector development, and the government ownership of banks: Evidence from a group of non-OECD economies. Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, 22(4), 936–957.
- Coulibaly, D. (2015). Remittances and financial development in Sub-Saharan African countries: A system approach. Economic Modelling, 45, 249–258.
- Demirgüç-Kunt, A., Cordova, E. L., Martínez Pería, M. S., & Woodruff, C. (2011). Remittances and banking sector breadth and depth: Evidence from Mexico. Journal of Development Economics, 95(2), 229–241.
- Djankov, S., McLiesh, C., & Shleifer, A. (2007). Private credit in 129 countries. Journal of Financial Economics, 84(2), 299–329.
- Dumitrescu, E.-I., & Hurlin, C. (2012). Testing for Granger non-causality in heterogeneous panels. Economic Modelling, 29(4), 1450–1460.
- Fromentin, V. (2017). The long-run and short-run impacts of remittances on financial development in developing countries. The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, 66, 192–201.
- Giuliano, P., & Ruiz-Arranz, M. (2009). Remittances, financial development, and growth. Journal of Development Economics, 90(1), 144–152.
- Granger, C. W. (1969). Investigating causal relations by econometric models and cross-spectral methods. Econometrica: Journal of the Econometric Society, 37(3), 424–438.
- Gupta, S., Pattillo, C. A., & Wagh, S. (2009). Effect of remittances on poverty and financial development in Sub-Saharan Africa. World Development, 37(1), 104–115.
- Hansen, L. P. (1982). Large sample properties of generalized method of moments estimators. Econometrica: Journal of the Econometric Society, 1029–1054.
- Im, K. S., Pesaran, M. H., & Shin, Y. (2003). Testing for unit roots in heterogeneous panels. Journal of econometrics, 115(1), 53–74.
- King, R., & Levine, R. (1993). Finance and growth: Schumpeter might be right. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 108(3), 717–737.
- Kónya, L. (2006). Exports and growth: Granger causality analysis on OECD countries with a panel data approach. Economic Modelling, 23(6), 978–992.
- Levin, A., Lin, C. F., & Chu, C. S. J. (2002). Unit root tests in panel data: asymptotic and finite-sample properties. Journal of econometrics, 108(1), 1–24.
- Levine, R. (2005). Finance and growth: Theory and evidence. In P. Aghion & S. Durlauf (Eds.), Handbook of economic growth. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
10.1016/S1574-0684(05)01012-9 Google Scholar
- Maddala, G. S., & Wu, S. (1999). A comparative study of unit root tests with panel data and a new simple test. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and statistics, 61(S1), 631–652.
- McCracken, S., Ramlogan-Dobson, C., & Stack, M. M. (2017). A gravity model of remittance determinants: Evidence from Latin America and the Caribbean. Regional Studies, 51(5), 737–749.
- Mundaca, B. G. (2009). Remittances, financial market development, and economic growth: The Case of Latin America and the Caribbean. Review of Development Economics, 13(2), 288–303.
- Rajan, R., & Subramanian, A. (2005). What undermines aid's impact on growth? Washington, DC: International Monetary Fund.
10.3386/w11657 Google Scholar
- Ramirez, M. D. (2013). Do financial and institutional variables enhance the impact of remittances on economic growth in Latin America and the Caribbean? A panel cointegration analysis. International Advances in Economic Research, 19(3), 273–288.
10.1007/s11294-013-9407-2 Google Scholar
- Ramirez, M. D., & Sharma, H. (2009). Remittances and growth in Latin America: A panel unit root and panel cointegration analysis. Estudios Economicos de Desarrollo Internacional, 9(1), 1–33.
- Ratha, D. (2004). Workers’ remittances: An important and stable source of external development finance. Global development finance 2003—striving for stability in development finance (pp. 157–175). Washington, DC: World Bank.
- Ratha, D., Mohapatra, S., & Silwal, A. (2010). Outlook for remittance flows 2010–11 (Migration and Development Brief No. 12). Washington, DC: World Bank Migration and Development team, Development Prospects Group.
- Reinke, J. (2007). Remittances in the balance of payments framework: Current problems and forthcoming improvements. Paper presented at Seminar on Remittance Statistics, Center of Excellence in Finance, Ljubljana, Slovenia, February 26–March 2, 2007.
- Roodman, D. (2009). How to do xtabond2: An introduction to difference and system gmm in stata. Stata Journal, 9(1), 86–136.
- Sargan, J. D. (1958). The estimation of economic relationships using instrumental variables. Econometrica: Journal of the Econometric Society, 393–415.
- Maddala, G. S., & Wu, S. (1999). A comparative study of unit root tests with panel data and a new simple test. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and statistics, 61(S1), 631–652.
- Singh, R. J., Haacker, M., Lee, K. W., & Le Goff, M. (2010). Determinants and macroeconomic impact of remittances in Sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of African Economies, 20(2), 312–340.
- World Bank (2006). Global economic prospects: Economic implications of remittances and migration. Washington: DC Author.
- World Bank (2011). Migration and remittances fact book 2011 ( 2nd ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
- World Bank (2014). Migration and remittances, news. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/pubdocs/publicdoc/2015/10/848611444756854924/MigrationandDevelopmentBrief23.pdf