Are remittances a "catalyst" for financial access? Evidence from Mexican household data

Christian Ambrosius

No 2012/8, Discussion Papers from Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics

Abstract: In policy discussions, it has frequently been claimed that migrants' remittances could function as a catalyst for financial access among receiving households. This paper provides empirical evidence on this hypothesis from Mexico, a major receiver of remittances worldwide. Using the Mexican Family Life Survey panel (MxFLS) for 2002 and 2005, the results from the fixed effects logit model show that receiving remittances is strongly correlated with the ownership of savings accounts and, to some degree, with the availability of borrowing options. These effects are more important for rural households than for urban households and are more important for microfinance institutions, than for traditional banks.

Keywords: Remittances; Mexico; Financial Access; Microfinance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F24 G21 O16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev, nep-mfd and nep-mig
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:fubsbe:20128

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