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Undergraduate Economic Review

Abstract

This essay analyzes household surveys from the World Bank Global Financial Inclusion Database for the years 2011, 2014, and 2017, as a means to distinguish individual level characteristics of remittance recipients in Venezuela. Remittances are defined as “crossborder, person-to-person payments of relatively low value. The transfers are typically recurrent payments by migrant workers to their relatives in their home countries (World Bank, 2015). Through the use of a linear probability model and probit regressions, I examine the variables age, gender, education level, and income quintile. Results of the analysis find that age has a statistically significant negative effect on the probability an individual will receive remittances, holding all else constant. The influx in remittance flows alone, experienced by Venezuela since the outset of the crisis, may have long-term fiscal implications for the economy as a whole. Answering the question of who receives these international private funds transfers is noteworthy for understanding remittance behavior as a facet of the economics of immigration, as well as creating policy with the intention of maximizing the overall welfare benefits remittances provide during periods of economic crisis.

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