Motivations to remit: evidence from Chitwan, Nepal

Abstract

As remittance has become a crucial source of income for households, migrant's motivations to remit have significant implications for migrant-sending societies. Using data from western Chitwan in Nepal, I test the relative significance of different motives to remit that are identified in the existing literature along with other likely determinants of remittance behavior. An improved statistical methodology corrects for potential self-selection bias. The empirical results suggest that remittance behavior is driven by semi-altruistic and self-interested motives rather than purely altruistic motives while social norms also serve as an important predictor of remittance behavior.

Acknowledgements

The author is very grateful for the comments from anonymous reviewers and editor as well as her dissertation committee members Douglas S. Massey, Bill Axinn, and Thomas Espenshade for their helpful feedback on an earlier version of this article. The author would also like to extend her gratitude to Dr. Dirgha Ghimire, Mr. Krishna Lama and the rest of the Chitwan team based in Nepal along with German Rodriguez and Chang Chung at Princeton University for all their help and support.

Notes on contributor

Pratikshya Bohra-Mishra completed her PhD in Demography and Public Policy from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs (WWS) and the Office of Population Research at Princeton University. She is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate with the program in Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy (STEP) based in the WWS in Princeton University. She has published articles in the areas of migration, remittances, climate change, civil conflict, and immigrant assimilation. She is currently working on exploring the relationship between climate change and human migration patterns; assimilation of immigrant population in the United States; and labor migration in general.

Notes

1. Until 2002, a woman had a right to inherit parental property only if she remained unmarried up to 35 years of age. Today, however, women have inheritance right from birth but after marriage any property will be returned to the parent's family (Pandey 2001).