Remittances and economic growth: Empirical evidence from South Africa

Sheilla Nyasha and Nicholas Odhiambo

No 25744, Working Papers from University of South Africa, Department of Economics

Abstract: In this paper, we have empirically examined the impact of remittances on economic growth in South Africa over the period from 1970-2017. The study was motivated by the conflicting empirical findings that have emerged in the literature on the impact of remittance on economic growth in various countries. The study was also motivated by the need to find an empirical backing on the assertion that remittances are good for economic growth and can play a key role in lowering the inequality levels in developing countries. Using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach, the empirical results, contrary to expectations, have revealed that in South Africa, remittances have a negative impact on economic growth, irrespective of whether the regression analysis is conducted in the long run, or in the short run. The study, therefore, cautions policy makers when it comes to policies related to harnessing remittances for economic growth. The study argues that it is not only remittance inflows that matter, but also how the remittances are utilised to influence economic growth.

Keywords: Remittances, Economic Growth; South Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-fdg and nep-gro
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://uir.unisa.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10500/2574 ... 20South%20Africa.pdf (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 502 Proxy Error (http://uir.unisa.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10500/25744/Remittances%20and%20economi%20growth%20Empirical%20evidence%20from%20South%20Africa.pdf [301 Moved Permanently]--> https://uir.unisa.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10500/25744/Remittances%20and%20economi%20growth%20Empirical%20evidence%20from%20South%20Africa.pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:uza:wpaper:25744

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from University of South Africa, Department of Economics Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Shaun Donovan ().