Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/63523 
Year of Publication: 
2007
Series/Report no.: 
WIDER Research Paper No. 2007/23
Publisher: 
The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), Helsinki
Abstract: 
We use original 2005 household survey data from Fiji and Tonga to estimate the impact of migration and remittances on income distribution and measures of poverty, after controlling for selectivity in migration and endogeneity in the relationship between remittances and income. Measures of inequality and poverty based on actual, with-migration income and remittances are then compared with those based on a no-migration scenario. Counterfactual household incomes are estimated, taking account of what the migrant members would have earned had they not migrated. The results are compared with alternative income estimates in which remittances are treated simplistically as exogenous transfers. The positive effects of migration and remittances on poverty alleviation and income distribution are found to be stronger when the more rigorous, counterfactual income estimates are used.
Subjects: 
migration
remittances
income distribution
poverty
Fiji
Tonga
JEL: 
F22
F24
I32
O15
ISBN: 
9291909629=978-92-9190-962-9
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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