Do remittances improve political institutions? Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa

Kevin Williams

Economic Modelling, 2017, vol. 61, issue C, 65-75

Abstract: Do remittances represent a significant positive determinant of democratic institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa? In this paper, we estimate the effect that remittances have on democratic institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa over the period 1975–2014. Using a 5-year non-overlapping panel sample and controlling for country and time fixed effects, we find that remittances are positively associated with democratic institutions. Our baseline system-GMM estimates indicate that a one standard deviation increase in remittance flows improves democratic institutions by around 0.32 standard deviations. Furthermore, we find that remittances improve democratic institutions by increasing schooling and reducing poverty.

Keywords: Democratic institutions; Remittances; Sub-Saharan Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F24 P16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (29)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:61:y:2017:i:c:p:65-75

DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2016.12.004

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