Food security amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Central Asia:Evidence from rural Tajikistan

Food security has been long understudied in the context of Central Asia.We present an analysis examining household-level food demand for Tajikistan and assessing the magnitude of its food security changes during the COVID-19 pandemic.Based on an extensive household survey data set from Tajikistan,we estimate the expenditure,income,and price elasticities for nine food categories using the QUAIDS model.Then,we develop a microsimulation model using the estimated elasticities to assess the dual impact of declining remittance income and rising food prices stemming from the pandemic shock.There are significant differences in demand elasticities across food groups,with high elasticities observed for nutritious foods,such as meat,fruit,eggs,and milk,in rural households.Moreover,our findings show that changes in remittance income and food prices significantly negatively affected food security for rural households during the COVID-19 pandemic.These findings have important implications for policymakers concerned about rural livelihoods and food security in remittance-receiving economies during the post-pandemic period.

Remittances,financial development and economic growth in sub-Saharan African countries:evidence from a PMG-ARDL approach

The study investigated the relationship among remittances,financial development and economic growth in a panel of 20 sub-Saharan African countries over the period of 2000 and 2015.The study used both Pooled Mean Group and Mean Group/ARDL estimations with panel unit root and cointegration tests.After establishing cointegration,remittances and financial development were found to have positive effects on economic growth both in the short and the long run.The interactive term showed that financial development acted as a substitute in the remittances-growth relationship.Finally,unidirectional causal relationships were found to exist from GDP to remittances and from financial development to GDP.However,no causality existed between remittances and financial development in the SSA countries.

Impact of International Trade, Remittances and Industrialization on the Economic Growth of Bangladesh

There are several important factors of growth and many endeavors have been made to apply these factors to explain the growth of different economies at different times. In this context, the objective of this paper is to examine the impact of international trade, remittances and industrialization on the economic growth of Bangladesh using annual data from the period of 1976 to 2010. This study uses the time series econometrics methodology, which covers tests for stationary, cointegration, and specification of the model. This study also focuses on finding causal relationship among export, import, remittances, and industrialization on the economic growth of Bangladesh by using Granger causality test. The result shows that the variables are cointegrated, implying a long-run causal relationship among export, import, remittances, and industrialization on the economic growth of Bangladesh.

Invigorating foreign aid administration:remittances’strategy,pro-poor and gender focus

Background:The pitfall of top-down approach to development is identified as a major cause of aid inefficiency.The approach is fraught with corruption and unethical practices that have bedeviled aid administration.Meanwhile,the impact of remittances has been widely acknowledged in the national development process.Methods:This study therefore reviews the extant foreign aid administrative norms and practices using various conceptual frameworks and diagrammatic representations with a view to identifying the inherent weaknesses in the process.Results:In the light of the findings,the study pitches its tent around the concept of remittances as a learning process for aid administration.Consequently,the pro-poor and gender focus approaches of remittances to development,as well as its bottomup approach is proposed as a conceptual framework for aid administration.Conclusions:The study concludes that,strict adherence to bottom-up approaches proposed in this article would keep corruption and other unethical practices which have rendered the aid administrative process inefficient,to the barest minimum.

Do migrant remittances matter for financial development in Kenya?

The paper analyzes the relationship between remittances and financial development using Kenyan quarterly data from 2006 to 2016.Five different indicators of financial development are used:credit to the private sector as a share of GDP,the number of mobile transactions,the value of these mobile transactions,the number of mobile agents,and the number of bank accounts.The results from using an autoregressive distributed lag demonstrate a strong,positive relationship between remittances and financial development in long-run equations.This suggests that higher levels of remittances provide opportunities for recipients to open bank accounts,enhance their savings,and access financial systems,in addition to exposing the previously unbanked to both new and existing financial products.The results also confirm the potential advantage of embracing modern and advanced technology to facilitate international mobile transfers.Using international remittance transfers through mobile technology reduces costs by eliminating the need for physical branches and personnel to attend to walk-in customers.Aside from offering convenience and safety for remittance actors,this method also dominates traditional remittance business models.Therefore,a policy window exists for the government to leverage on remittances as a tool of financial inclusion and depth,and particularly through the continued expansion of regulatory space to accommodate the wider use of international mobile remittance transfer channels.Moreover,given the strong,positive relationship between remittances and credit to the private sector as indicated by its share of GDP and number of bank accounts,commercial banks and other players in the remittance market may also find it useful to develop customized products for migrants to access their remittances.For example,financial intermediaries can consider providing better deposit interest rates for diaspora deposits compared to deposits made in the local currency.Further,these institutions can allow regular remittance flows to act as collateral for the allocation of credit,among other incentives to tap into the significant potential of money remitted by migrants to Kenya.The study also recommends that the government consider expanding exploitation of diaspora bonds and diaspora savings and credit cooperative societies while drawing lessons from other countries’previous attempts.

Linking Accounting/Auditing Environment and the Remittances of Africans in Diaspora

This paper investigates empirically the link between the inflow of Diasporas remittances and the environment of accounting/auditing in 10 African countries. The result using Spearman＇s rank correlation indicates the existence of a positive relationship （correlation coefficient rs is 0.36）, but the strength of the relationship is weak （significant level of 0.05）. The quality of accounting and auditing as represented by their environment is a stimulus that could enhance the inflow of Diasporas remittances. The study therefore recommends that African countries should strategically and proactively refocus attention on developing accounting/auditing environment in order to attract reasonable volume of remittances.

Remittances to Ghana： Benefits to the Housing Sector and Impact of Financial Crisis

The role of inflow of overseas remittances towards the development of housing sector in Ghana, and the impact of recent financial crisis on the development process is investigated. This is achieved through a review and analysis of information gathered through national and international statistical sources and targeted household and institutional interviews. As a prelude to the analysis the study assessed the importance of remittance as large and growing part of the economic underpinning of developing countries. It then assesses whether remittances have a particular relationship with housing. The research provided an estimate of the nature, level and uses of remittances and the different cyclical characters of other flows. It reveals that the successful real estate market development across Ghana during the past decade benefited from a buoyant national economy, improved financial systems and family remittances. However, the picture changed especially during 2008 attributed mainly to the global financial crisis and economic downturn. The reverberating problems of unemployment and high levels of bankruptcies in the advanced countries were felt but not as pronounced as they were in the major industrialised economies. The discussions concluded by posing a much broader question in relation to other developing countries about how remittances could be mobilised towards the development of the housing sector.

A Panel Data Analysis of the Impact of Chinese Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), Remittances and Foreign Aid on Human Capital Growth and Brain Drain in Africa

The main purpose of this research was to analyze the impact the Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI), remittances, and foreign aid have had to human capital growth (HCG) and brain drain. The study data were collected from five African countries (Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, and Morocco) from 2009 to 2018. Secondary sources were used in data collection, then autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) modeling was used in the analysis. Before modelling was done, co-integration tests and panel unit were applied. The results revealed that Chinese FDI, remittances, and foreign aid had a significant and positive impact on HCG in the long but not the short-run. Besides, remittances, Chinese FDI, and foreign aid demonstrated significant negative impacts on brain drain in the long term, not in the short term. This study makes important practical and theoretical contributions about the roles of Chinese FDI, remittances, and foreign aid in the reduction of brain drain and the growth of human capital.

Does Migration Reduce the Household Poverty in Nepal？

Migration is both cause and consequence of poverty. In some parts of the world, poverty is the root cause of migration, whereas in other parts, the poor are among the last to move. This study tries to explore the impact of migration of any member of the households in the per capita consumption expenditure and the socio-economic status of the households by using Poverty Alleviation Fund household survey： 2010/11, which covered 3000 households from Humla, Jumla, Rolpa, Doti, Dailekh and Rauthat. The study used quasi-experimental research design and poverty was measured by using the same procedure employed by Nepal Living Standard Survey （NLSS） 2010/11. The relationship between poverty and migration was measured with the help of Ordinary Least Square （OLS） regression model whereas socio-economic status of the households was measured with the help of Chi square analysis. The finding indicated that access of piped drinking water, modem toilet facilities, access the radio/tape, mobile/telephone, land ownership, average months of food sufficiency and average per capita consumption expenditure was better for the （any member） migrant＇s households compared to non-migrant＇s households. Based on this poverty line, it was derived that around 34 percent households fall below the poverty line The incidence of poverty was higher for the non-migrants＇ households compared to any member migrants＇ households.

Study on Provincial Land Use Database Remittance Standard Establishment

In order to realize county-level land use database remittance, establish the provincial land use database and realize annual change statistics, this paper analyzed the requirements for establishing the provincial land use database remittance standards. It proposed the principle of establish the standard compile, introduced the standard establishment process, described the standard main content, and demonstrated technical reasons for standard topologic relationship, expression method for land use data time dimension, data file naming rule, land use element classification, land use database digital dictionary file composition, land use spatial objects, etc. It provides reference for the standard establishment of provincial land use database remittance.

Bangladesh Economic Development Model （BED Model）

Bangladesh economy has experienced some stable growths with regard to major macroeconomic indicators, significant progress in social development indicators, rural infrastructure, investment in industrial agricultural sector, and poverty alleviation since the 1990s. Bangladesh has made major strides in its human development index （HDI）, population growth rate achieved to 1.3%, gross domestic product （GDP） over the last five years achieved more than 5% growth consecutively; as a result, it mooted the Brazil, Russia, India, China （BRIC） successors, otherwise known as the Next-11. The success has come through the miracle activities of micro finance （MF： Grameen Bank and non-governmental organizations （NGOs））, remittance from migrant worker （RMW）, and export of readymade garment （ERMG） products. These three （MF, RMW, and ERMG） as the ＂prime powers＂ or engines have been achieving to ＂bottom up＂ of social economic development. This paper reviews aspects of economic development in Bangladesh, analyzes three prime powers, and tries to find out a development pattern, vis-a-vis construct Bangladesh economic development model or BED model. Finally, this paper examines Bangladesh＇s development experience in light of the BED model. It has recognized MF model for poverty alleviation in the worldwide.

Social Networks Among Migrants in Saudi Arabia （SA）： Opportunities and Implications

This paper presents results of a pilot research conducted among social networks of both Sudanese and Egyptians in Jeddah city, Saudi Arabia （SA）. The main objectives of the research are focused into four interrelated issues： （1） to analyse the structural-function of the social networks of Sudanese and Egyptian migrants; （2） to explain the opportunities and challenges confronting the social networks; （3） to examine the elements of implications on SA society as perceived by the networks; and （4） to identify perceived future visions of the social network members in the context of their social and economic remittances in both countries. The research has applied a qualitative method and a structured interview sheet was used for data collection. The Sudanese sample focused on members from a Nubian social network in ]eddah who resemble skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled labours, while the Egyptian sample selected randomly from semi-skilled youth labours and unskilled labours as informal groups. The research has found some differences in the structural functions of both groups. There are many similarities shared between the two groups in relation to conserving social ties, support and cooperation as one homogeneous socio-ethnic groups in the hosting country. Also, the results show that both groups follow similar strategies of social and economic remittances to home land. Moreover, both groups are suffering and facing many shared challenges regarding economic security and sustainability in the hosting country. While, the Sudanese group has clear vision in respect of the betterment of the migrants in SA, the Egyptian group perceives the future as gloomy and uncertain.

Understanding the determinants of household cooking-fuel choice in sub-Saharan Africa:evidence from Nigeria

Overreliance on traditional cooking fuels by agricultural households poses a significant obstacle to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7 by 2030 in Nigeria.Despite the emerging recognition of remittances as a crucial factor influencing cooking-fuel choices in the energy-transition literature,there is a paucity of studies examining this influence in Nigeria.Using data from 4400 agricultural households sourced from the fourth wave of the Nigerian Living Standard Measurement Survey data sets,this study examined the influence of remittances on cooking-fuel choices,among other factors in Nigeria.Employing descriptive statistics and the multinomial logit regression model,the analysis reveals that traditional cooking fuels,including wood,crop residue and animal dung,continue to dominate the cooking-fuel landscape.The empirical result of the multinomial logit model showed that households that receive remittances are more likely to use modern cooking fuels.Furthermore,wealthier,more educated households with access to electricity are more likely to use modern and transitional cooking fuels than traditional cooking fuels.Based on the findings,the study suggests the incentivization of remittances into the country through the reduction in associated transaction costs and accelerated public infrastructural investment in affordable electricity and good road networks to connect rural areas to gas-supply networks to drive the transition to modern cooking energy.Additionally,educational and awareness campaigns about the health risks associated with traditional cooking energy,particularly indoor air pollution,should be encouraged,especially in rural areas.

The Impacts of COVID-19 on Migrants,Remittances,and Poverty in China:A Microsimulation Analysis

Chinese migrant workers are very exposed to the shocks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.Falling remittances adversely affect their families who rely on remittance incomes.The impacts of COVID-19 on migrants and remittance-receiving households are assessed using a nationally representative household dataset and a microsimulation model.We found about 70 percent of migrant workers lost part of their wage income during the pandemic lockdown period and rural migrants working in small and medium enterprises were affected the most.This led to about 50 percent of remittance-receiving households being affected adversely by falling remittances,and the average decline in such income was more than 45 percent.Nearly 13 percent of pre-pandemic nonpoor remittance-receiving households could fall into poverty,raising the poverty rate among remittancereceiving households by 4 percentage points.Many households that were poor prior to the pandemic became more impoverished.The results indicate that social protection programs targeting vulnerable migrants and their families at home are important.

Remittances for Disaster Risk Management: Perspectives from Pacific Island Migrants Living in New Zealand

In many low-income countries, migrant remittances are essential in sustaining people's livelihoods and become even more important during and after disasters.Researchers, policymakers, and practitioners increasingly emphasize the need to better support this people-based mechanism, so disaster risk can be reduced. This suggests the importance of understanding migrants' perspectives on the remittance channels used and the challenges and opportunities of supporting remittances. However, such information is largely missing. Drawing on interviews and a focus group discussion carried out with Pacific Island migrants living in New Zealand, the article identifies the capacity of migrants to utilize different remittance channels and resources to assist those affected in their country of origin. Challenges faced include high transfer fees, lack of information and support from external stakeholders, and limited resources to effectively send both individual and collective remittances. The article concludes that there is a serious need to involve a large array of stakeholders in finding ways to better support remittances for disaster risk management, including migrants, government agencies, the private sector, nongovernmental organizations, and those receiving remittances.

Impacts of the Contributions of FDI and Remittances on the Economic Growth in Asia and Latin America: A Comparative Study

Foreign direct investment (FDI) and foreign remittance have been the main sources of external capital inflows for many developing countries.FDI has been credited as the main driver of rapid economic growth in many Asian countries/regions in recent decades.However,this effect of FDI on long-run economic growth has not been observed in Latin American countries.Now,the question is whether FDI and an increase in foreign remittances in the past two decades have achieved expected positive results in terms of economic growth for emerging economies.This study uses a generalized method of moments (GMM) dynamic panel model to quantify the impacts of FDI and foreign remittances as sources of foreign capital for Asia and Latin America.Our findings suggest that FDI and remittances perform differently in different regions in terms of their impacts on GDP growth.Countries that have specific policies (i.e.,industrial policy,domestic content requirement,and export production targets) for FDI are likely to derive more significant benefits from FDI and remittances.Developing countries that are emerging or lagging should learn from the countries with positive outcomes and implement similar policies.

Migration,Cultural Remittance,and the Social Landscape of Kerala

The social landscape of Kerala—the southwest Indian state—has undergone significant changes in the last century.Migration has been a major factor impelling transformation in different sectors of Kerala society,thereby contributing to the overall development of the state.Among the major destinations of migration from Kerala,the Gulf Cooperation Council(GCC)countries continued to be a unique space for more than one reason.Apart from historical and cultural links,the GCC countries have geopolitical as well as economic importance to India,and Kerala in particular.This has naturally attracted several migration-related scholarly investigations.There are several studies and reports pertaining to the impact of the Gulf migration on Kerala’s economy and society.Yet,the cultural impact of the remittance boom on Kerala—which started in the 1970s—has not been subjected to rigorous studies and analysis.Hence,this paper tries to deploy cultural remittance as a category of analysis for understanding the changing social landscape of Kerala—with the emergence of new cultural spaces held out by the Gulf-related songs,home cinema,films,religion,cuisine,dress styles,media,and the diaspora literature.The study mainly delves into the text and context of such cultural artefacts with a view to exploring the contours of‘living Together’in the‘Gulf life-world’in Kerala.

The Co-Evolution between Remittance Business for Overseas Chinese and Institutions： The Case of Chaoshan Region During 1860-1949

This study proposes a framework to analyze the co-evolution between the remittance business for overseas Chinese and their institutions during 1860-1949. In particular, this paper focuses on the co-evolutions between their organizational fields and institutions. It shows that participants communicate, compete and cooperate through their organizational fields, and finally promote the remittance business. Since the three pillars of institutions---regulative, normative, and cultural-cognitive--correlate and interact with each other, it is found that institutions can promote the business of overseas remittance if the combination of these three pillars of institutions works well; otherwise, it ends the business with confusion.