Template-type: ReDif-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Konte M. 
Author-workplace-name: UNU-MERIT
Title: The effects of remittances on support for democracy in Africa: Are remittances a curse or a blessing?
Abstract: We examine the effect of remittances on the legitimacy of democracy in  Africa, testing whether remittance recipients are less likely to support  democracy than are non-recipients. We hypothesise that the effect of  remittances on support for democracy varies across groups of individuals  sharing similar but unobserved background characteristics. Using the  Afrobarometer surveys, we try to find out whether the respondents fall  into different hidden clusters in such a way that the effect of  remittances on the degree of support for democracy depends on the  cluster. Our results support that remittances may be a curse for the  degree of endorsement and support for democracy depending on the cluster  of individuals that we consider. The analysis of the probability of  being in the remittance curse cluster indicates that the perception of  national priorities plays an important role. Indeed, people who attest  that freedom and rights are the main national priorities have a lower  probability of belonging to the remittances curse cluster than  individuals who choose national priorities that are oriented towards the  economic conditions of their country.
Keywords: Microeconomic Behavior, Remittances, Economywide Country Studies, Africa 
Classification-JEL: D01, F24, O55
Series: UNU-MERIT Working Papers
Creation-Date: 2015
Number: 2015-008
File-URL: https://unu-merit.nl/publications/wppdf/2015/wp2015-008.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 448806
Handle: RePEc:unm:unumer:2015008