Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Naudé, Wim
Author-Email: w.naude@maastrichtuniversity.nl
Author-Workplace-Name: UNU-MERIT/MGSoG, Maastricht University
Author-Name: Bezuidenhout, Henri
Author-Email: Henri.Bezuidenhout@nwu.ac.za
Author-Workplace-Name: North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa
Title: Remittances provide resilience against disasters in Africa
Abstract: How responsive are remittances to various disasters, both natural and 
	 human-made? And would remittances be affected by systemic financial 
	 crises (such as the 2008/09 financial crisis)? Using panel data on 23 
	 Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries over the period 1980 to 2007, we 
	 find that remittances are slow to respond to natural disasters, 
	 unresponsive to outbreaks of conflict, and will decline, albeit slowly, 
	 after a global financial crisis only to the extent that the crisis 
	 affects incomes, migration stocks, exchange rates, and the banking 
	 system. The relative persistence of remittances suggests that it is a 
	 good bulwark against natural disasters and global financial crises in 
	 SSA.
Classification-JEL: F24, F22, O55
Keywords: remittances, migration, disasters, global financial crisis, Africa  
Series: UNU-MERIT Working Papers
Creation-Date: 2012
Number: 026
File-URL: http://www.merit.unu.edu/publications/wppdf/2012/wp2012-026.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 275 Kb
Handle: RePEc:unm:unumer:2012026