Does the dual-citizenship recognition determine the level and the utilization of international remittances? Cross-Country Evidence

This paper shows that countries which allow a dual citizenship status for their international migrants receive on average more remittances than others. Using a cross-section of 104 developing countries with data averaged over the period 2000-2008, I distinguish between the direct effect of the dual citizenship status (incentive to remit more) and an indirect effect which passes through migration incentives. Results indicate that the direct effect of the recognition of the dual-citizenship is higher. Finally, the paper shows that remittance inflows are more likely to foster private investment in receiving countries which recognize a dual citizenship status for their migrants. These results are robust to alternative uses of datasets on dual-citizenship codification and to the instrumentation of remittances in the private investment model.