Do Remittances to Latin America Depend on the U.S. Business Cycle?
IMF Working Papers, December 1, 2007
Source details
- Canonical URL
- Do Remittances to Latin America Depend on the U.S. Business Cycle?
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Bibliographic details
- Authors: Ewa Gradzka, Shaun K. Roache
- Published: December 1, 2007
- Series: IMF Working Papers
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781451868364.001
Core finding
- Using remittance data from 1990 to 2007 and a range of methods, the authors find that remittance flows to Latin America are "relatively insensitive to fluctuations in the U.S. cycle."
- Remittances are characterized as a stable source of external financing "in good times and bad."
Methods and data
- Time coverage: 1990 to 2007.
- Analytical approach: "a range of methods" (unspecified on the page) applied to remittance data to assess strength and significance of linkages with the U.S. business cycle.
- The paper is presented as IMF Working Paper No. 2007/273.
Explanations and caveats
- Possible explanations offered for the low sensitivity of remittances to the U.S. business cycle include:
- Remittance smoothing.
- Flexible immigrant labor markets.
- A caveat noted: uncertainties related to official remittance data reliability may affect assessments.
Implications
- Remittances function as a relatively stable source of external financing for Latin American economies, providing resilience to fluctuations in the U.S. business cycle.
- The stability of remittance flows supports their role in smoothing income for recipient economies through U.S. downturns.
Metadata (from page)
- Authors: Ewa Gradzka, Shaun K. Roache
- Date: December 1, 2007
- Subjects: Business cycles, Economic and financial statistics, Income, Migrant labor, Remittances
- Keywords: business cycle, WP
Source: "Do Remittances to Latin America Depend on the U.S. Business Cycle?" by Ewa Gradzka and Shaun K. Roache, December 1, 2007.