The determinants of remittances among second-generation Mexican- and Filipino-Americans

ABSTRACT

This article analyses the factors that influence the decision to remit among second-generation Mexican- and Filipino-Americans, two groups in which approximately one-third remit. Using logistic regression, this article shows that the decision to remit is associated with social and familial relationships that second-generation migrants have within a transnational social field that encompasses themselves, first-generation migrants, and nonmigrants. The decision to remit among second-generation migrants is shaped on a household-level, both financially and socially. Socialization in the parental household during childhood plays an important role in establishing the competencies and social ties required to remit. In addition, social connections with nonmigrants in the ancestral home country is inherently connected to financial relationships. Finally, these results highlight the ways in which conditions associated with remittance corridors vary between Mexican- and Filipino-Americans.

KEYWORDS:

• Second-generation
• remittances
• transnationalism
• immigration
• Filipino/Asian-American
• Mexican/Latino

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Kevin Lewis, David FitzGerald, Abigail Andrews, the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, the Sociology graduate community at UCSD, and the reviewers for their feedback on the article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

ORCID

Armand Gutierrez http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0391-1913

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the California Immigration Research Initiative Graduate Student Fellowship.