Remittances are for a large number of developing countries the most important source of foreign funding. Destination countries of migration, however, fear a outflow of financial funds. Using data for Germany, we analyze the impact of remittances and migration on one of the major sending...

This study investigates intergenerational social mobility and its particular transmission mechanisms in low- and middle-income countries. Using data from Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Vietnam, we estimate the degree to which socioeconomic status persists across generations. We then analyze through...

In this paper, we investigate whether foreign currency accounts help overcome credit constraints in developing countries. We analyze a novel bank-level data set from Nepal, where a steady inflow of remittances has contributed to foreign currency deposits on commercial bank balance sheets. In...

In policy discussions, it has frequently been claimed that migrants' remittances could function as a 'catalyst' for financial access among receiving households. This paper provides empirical evidence on this hypothesis from Mexico, a main receiver of remittances worldwide. Using the Mexican...

This study examines the role of migrant's remittances on labor supply in remittance receiving households. A simple labor choice model is developed which is extended to include self-employment. Unlike earlier studies, fixed effects estimations as well as an instrumental approach are applied....

While illicit capital flight is a major concern of policy makers in developing countries, there is only little research on the possible link between capital flight and development aid. In this paper, we address the issue for Nepal, a stereotypical financially-closed developing economy that is...

Optimal integration policies should take the language skills of arriving migrants into account. However, little is known about the determinants of these skills, because most survey-based studies cannot distinguish between language learning before and after migration. We present a new dataset...

Using a panel of naturalizations in U.S. states from 1986 to 2012, we empirically analyze the impact of elections on immigration policy. Our results indicate that immigration policy is (partly) driven by national elections: there are more naturalizations in presidential election years and during...

Immigration is a major challenge and opportunity for rich Western countries. Integration of immigrants is a two-way process, the success of which depends both on immigrants and on natives. We provide new evidence on the determinants of individual attitudes towards immigration, using data from...

Using novel German district-level data from 1999-2011, this paper analyses whether the presence of immigrants in a particular location helps to attract inward FDI from the immigrants' country of origin. Results show that a one standard-deviation increase in the immigrant share is associated with...