Migrant Remittances and Economic Growth in ECOWAS Countries: Does Digitalization Matter?

Moukpè Gniniguè () and Essossinam Ali
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Moukpè Gniniguè: University of Kara

The European Journal of Development Research, 2022, vol. 34, issue 5, No 16, 2517-2542

Abstract: Abstract Digital technologies can be a critical channel in boosting economic growth and achieving Sustainable Development Goals. During crises like COVID-19, digitalization can facilitate the reception of remittances from relatives and friends. We analyze the effects of migrant remittances (MRs) on economic growth in ECOWAS countries with a special emphasis on the role of digitalization. The simultaneous equations and the seemingly unrelated regression method are used with data spanning from 1980 to 2017. Findings show that digitization is not a channel for transmitting the effects of MRs on economic growth in ECOWAS countries. However, digitalization constitutes a catalyst of the effects of MRs on economic growth in non-WAEMU countries, while it does not in WAEMU (a sub-regional block of ECOWAS). Nevertheless, remittances contribute to human capital accumulation, investment, and consumption in WAEMU countries. Policies aiming at strengthening digitization are welcome to foster the effect of MRs on countries' economies in ECOWAS, in general, and WAEMU in particular.

Keywords: Digitalization; Migrant remittances; Economic growth (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F24 O15 O16 O40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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DOI: 10.1057/s41287-021-00461-6

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