Remittances, Consumption and Investment in Ghana

Adams, Richard H., Jr. ; Cuecuecha, Alfredo ; Page, John

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ACCOUNTING;    AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS;    AMOUNT OF REMITTANCES;    CAPITA REMITTANCES;    CLUSTERS;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-4515
RP-ID  :  WPS4515

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This paper uses a new,nationally-representative household survey from Ghana toanalyze within a rigorous econometric framework how thereceipt of internal remittances (from within Ghana) andinternational remittances (from African or other countries)affects the marginal spending behavior of households on abroad range of consumption and investment goods, includingfood, education and housing.Contrary to other studies,which find that remittances are spent disproportionately onconsumption (food and consumer goods/durables) or investmentgoods (education and housing), the findings show thathouseholds receiving remittances in Ghana do not spend moreat the margin on food, education and housing than householdswith similar income levels and characteristics that do notreceive remittances.When the analysis controls forendogeneity and selection bias, the findings show that anydifferences in the marginal spending behavior betweenremittance-receiving and non-receiving households areexplained completely by the observed and unobservedcharacteristics of households.Households in Ghana treatremittances just like any other source of income, and thereare no changes in marginal spending patterns for householdswith the receipt of remittance income.