Asymmetric Information about Migrant Earnings and Remittance Flows

We examine asymmetric information about migrant earnings and its implications for remittance behavior using a sample of Indian households with husbands working overseas in Qatar. On average, wives underreport their husbands’ income and underreporting is more prevalent in households with higher earni...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Seshan, Ganesh, Zubrickas, Robertas
Format:	Journal Article
Published:	Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank 2018
Subjects:	ASYMETRIC INFORMATION REMITTANCES MIGRANT LABOR TRANSNATIONAL HOUSEHOLD INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION REMITTANCE CONTRACTS
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30127

id	okr-10986-30127
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-301272021-05-25T10:54:40Z Asymmetric Information about Migrant Earnings and Remittance Flows Seshan, Ganesh Zubrickas, Robertas ASYMETRIC INFORMATION REMITTANCES MIGRANT LABOR TRANSNATIONAL HOUSEHOLD INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION REMITTANCE CONTRACTS We examine asymmetric information about migrant earnings and its implications for remittance behavior using a sample of Indian households with husbands working overseas in Qatar. On average, wives underreport their husbands’ income and underreporting is more prevalent in households with higher earning migrants. The discrepancy in earning reports is strongly correlated with variation in remittances: greater underreporting by wives is associated with lower remittances. We develop an exchange model of remittances with asymmetric information and costly state verification. The optimal remittance contract prescribes a threshold for remittances that invites verification only if unmet. The model's predictions closely match our empirical findings. 2018-08-03T17:22:25Z 2018-08-03T17:22:25Z 2017-02 Journal Article World Bank Economic Review 1564-698X http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30127 CC BY-ND-ND 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo World Bank Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank Publications & Research :: Journal Article Publications & Research Middle East and North Africa South Asia Qatar India
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
topic	ASYMETRIC INFORMATION REMITTANCES MIGRANT LABOR TRANSNATIONAL HOUSEHOLD INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION REMITTANCE CONTRACTS
spellingShingle	ASYMETRIC INFORMATION REMITTANCES MIGRANT LABOR TRANSNATIONAL HOUSEHOLD INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION REMITTANCE CONTRACTS Seshan, Ganesh Zubrickas, Robertas Asymmetric Information about Migrant Earnings and Remittance Flows
geographic_facet	Middle East and North Africa South Asia Qatar India
description	We examine asymmetric information about migrant earnings and its implications for remittance behavior using a sample of Indian households with husbands working overseas in Qatar. On average, wives underreport their husbands’ income and underreporting is more prevalent in households with higher earning migrants. The discrepancy in earning reports is strongly correlated with variation in remittances: greater underreporting by wives is associated with lower remittances. We develop an exchange model of remittances with asymmetric information and costly state verification. The optimal remittance contract prescribes a threshold for remittances that invites verification only if unmet. The model's predictions closely match our empirical findings.
format	Journal Article
author	Seshan, Ganesh Zubrickas, Robertas
author_facet	Seshan, Ganesh Zubrickas, Robertas
author_sort	Seshan, Ganesh
title	Asymmetric Information about Migrant Earnings and Remittance Flows
title_short	Asymmetric Information about Migrant Earnings and Remittance Flows
title_full	Asymmetric Information about Migrant Earnings and Remittance Flows
title_fullStr	Asymmetric Information about Migrant Earnings and Remittance Flows
title_full_unstemmed	Asymmetric Information about Migrant Earnings and Remittance Flows
title_sort	asymmetric information about migrant earnings and remittance flows
publisher	Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank
publishDate	2018
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30127
_version_	1764471274554261504

Asymmetric Information about Migrant Earnings and Remittance Flows

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