Through which channels can remittances spur economic growth in MENA countries?

Sami Ben Mim and Mohamed Sami Ben Ali

Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), 2012, vol. 6, No 2012-33, 27 pages

Abstract: This paper studies the remittances' effect on economic growth. Using panel data techniques, the authors estimate several specifications to provide support of such relationship for MENA countries over the period 19802009. The findings provide new robust evidence on how remittances are used in MENA countries and detect the main channels which may interfere in this process. Estimation outcomes show that the most important part of remittances is consumed and that remittances stimulate growth only when they are invested. Moreover, empirical results suggest that remittances can enhance growth by encouraging human capital accumulation. Human capital is therefore an effective channel through which remittances stimulate growth in MENA countries.

Keywords: workers' remittances; economic growth; panel data; MENA zone (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E21 F21 G22 J61 O16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.5018/economics-ejournal.ja.2012-33
https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/62006/1/722309473.pdf (application/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:zbw:ifweej:201233

DOI: 10.5018/economics-ejournal.ja.2012-33

Access Statistics for this article

Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020) is currently edited by Dennis J. Snower

More articles in Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020) from Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (econstor@zbw-workspace.eu).