Search

Most governments claim that Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programs benefit poor people. This study aims to analyze the impact of conditional cash transfers on low-income individuals in Indonesia. This study used consumption expenditures as a poverty measure and found that the Program Keluarga Harapan (PKH) has significant impact on an individual's consumption. However, households in the lowest wealth quantile were found to not take advantage of those benefits due to the current CCT design. Moreover, the heterogeneity of the CCT can generate substantial inequality, as household incomes in the lowest quantile fall. Therefore, governments should be more generous to households in the lowest wealth quantile, and carefully manage the program based on the needs of CCT beneficiaries.

The latest law on the protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (IMWs), Law Number 18 of 2017 (Law 18/2017), obliges the Indonesian government to conduct economic protection through remittance management by involving certain institutions. Nonetheless, there is a lack of clarity about how this intervention would occur. The private nature of migrant workers' remittances leads to the question of constitutional justification essential for the government's authority to intervene - particularly in Indonesia as a constitutional state in the form of a welfare state - besides skepticism concerning the applicability of the norm. This paper emphasizes the constitutional silence with regard to state intervention in human resources allocation, as it makes the deployment of Indonesian workers abroad constitutionally groundless. Consequently, the discretion infiltrates the remittance, a component of national income that is essentially a private transfer in which the management should be fully controlled by the families. Through review of the scientific literature and legal document analysis, this research found that the inclusion of a state intervention provision on human resources into the 1945 Constitution is still required.

International labour migration is a global process that has affected the populations of all countries and continents. Today, migrants face a new additional barrier - the COVID-19 pandemic, which has drastically affected all forms of human mobility. Today, labour-based migration from Ukraine is directed mainly to EU Member States. The main motives for international labour migration is the potential of earning money, financial security of the family etc. Accordingly, the consequence of international migration is the inflow of money into the country of migrant origin. Remittances from migrant workers are an important source of income for Ukraine. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in migrant remittances, contributing to the development of households, human potential, the reduction of poverty and inequality, and the inflow of foreign currency. This article proposes an econometric model of the impact of migrant remittances on the stabilisation of the country’s economy during the pandemic. As a result of the calculations, it was found that the income from people working abroad initially reduces the deviation of GDP from the equilibrium trend, but over time there is a clear procyclical impact. This feature is favourable for the Ukrainian economy and may mean that migrant transfers in times of crisis help to overcome the effects of global economic downturns.

How do financial remittances influence electoral participation in violent democracies? Previous work has focused on the 'substitution effect'; if recipients depend on remittances for welfare rather than the state, they become disengaged from formal political processes and less likely to vote in elections. However, while remittances can be used to substitute for state provision of welfare goods, they cannot fully substitute for public security. In this paper, we posit that the ability of governments to contain crime and violence conditions the effect of remittances on electoral participation. Specifically, we argue that high levels of crime can negate the substitution effect and make remittance recipients more likely to vote. Using municipality-level data from Mexico and individual-level data from Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa, we find that both the receipt of remittances and crime exposure significantly reduce individuals' propensity to vote and that aggregate remittances and crime rates are correlated with lower turnout. Remittances can, however, negate the turnout-suppressing effects of crime, and crime can negate the turnout-suppressing effects of remittances. Our results suggest a need to account for government provision of both substitutable and non-substitutable goods when investigating the effects of remittances on political participation.

Financial technology or fintech initiatives are gaining increasing global attention as instruments for financial inclusion and economic and social development. Among such initiatives, mobile-phone-enabled money transfer systems, or “mobile money,” have been particularly acclaimed for facilitating access to financial services and creating opportunities for the so-called “unbanked poor.” One of the first and most-discussed mobile money projects to date is M-Pesa in Kenya, a digital payment system which is now used by over 70 per cent of the Kenyan population across a variety of sectors including finance, commerce, education, health, and social welfare. M-Pesa is premised on a narrative of social entrepreneurship and has increasingly embraced the idea of philanthrocapitalism, promoting the logic that digital financial inclusion can simultaneously address social problems and produce profit. This paper brings together socio-legal enquiry and international political economy analysis to illustrate the institutional arrangements underpinning the development of M-Pesa and examine some of the projects built on its infrastructure. It argues that social entrepreneurship promotes a logic of opportunity rather than a politics of redistribution, favouring mobile money providers and the institutions involved in the mobile money social business over improving the lives of the intended beneficiaries, namely the unbanked poor.

Remittances - money sent back by migrants to their place of origin - are considered to be both economic and social practices mapping out a transnational space of migration. By sending and receiving money, objects, ideas, and social norms, migrants and non-migrants strengthen their social ties and express their multiple belongings. Remittances can thus be read as a practice of multi-local participation and inclusion. When remittance develops a negative trend, the remittance decay hypothesis thus concludes a shift in belonging: The longer migrants stay in their host country and build a life there, the less they remit. In this article, the remittance decay hypothesis is tested with ethnographic data from interviews and participant observation in the migration nexus between Uşak, Turkey, and Fulpmes, Austria. Remittance to Turkey has declined markedly in the last two decades from a record high of 574 USD million in September 1998 to a record low of 11 USD million in August 2019. Ethnographic data with members of three generations of Turkish-Austrians in Fulpmes can help to explain this process from a diachronic perspective: for changing remittance practices and a transformation in remittance scripts, e.g., as investment, compensation, help, gift or charity donation, demonstrate that there is more to the story than a fading sense of belonging.

Economic support is widespread among multigenerational Romanian family units separated by national borders and plays an important role for non-migrating family members. From a political economy perspective, remittances are characteristic of such long-term kin networks, which in turn are shaped by socio-structural contexts. This study aims to analyse transfers of remittances in cash and in kind from emigrant Romanian adult children to elderly parents back home. Both forms of upward support are investigated under the lens of family practices across distance. Data from a survey (Intergenerational solidarity in the context of work migration abroad. The situation of elderly left at home) are used to examine the influence on remittances of family commitments over time and of needs and opportunities. The sample includes 2109 parent-child dyads with data provided by elderly parents from all regions of Romania. Results of the logistic regression models show that stronger familial commitments increase the likelihood of remittances in cash and remittances in kind. Findings indicate the importance of filial support before migration and of various forms of intergenerational reciprocity. Our results stress that remittances in cash are more likely to be variable compared with remittances in kind. Both forms of support are part of a much broader set of family practices and intergenerational relationships but express different understandings of filial responsibility.

After the eastern expansion of the European Union (EU), a large number of emigrants left their home countries to work in economically better developed western member states. Hungary followed this EU emigration trend with a certain time lag. However, the rising number of emigrants caused structural problems in the domestic labour market. A comprehensive examination of intra-EU remittances as one of the major determinants of migration has been outside the scope of recent research activity. The data from the Hungarian Microcensus survey and the first Hungarian household survey focusing on the topic of remittances can provide a valuable case study of intra-EU private transfer flows. The aims of this study are twofold. On the one hand we intend to provide empirical evidence for the major factors that determine remittance propensity by calculating probit regressions. On the other hand, OLS regressions are calculated in order to introduce variables which are associated with money transfers. These results are interpreted within the theoretical framework of the New Economics of Labour Migration (NELM) to identify the underlying motivations for remittances. The most important findings are that older men with vocational school education have the highest remittance propensity, and the likelihood of sending private support is higher among short-term migrants. As the key factors, the income of the sender person is positively associated with the sum of money flows, while the income of the receiving household is negatively associated. Within the theoretical framework of NELM, these results favour the dominance of altruistic motives, since supporting the household members who remain behind seems to be the major driving force. However, when intentions of returning home are considered in the models, it seems that self-interest might also play a role as a driver of remittances. Within this study, the main focus was on the characteristics of the senders, meaning that a possible field of

Remittances and caregiving arrangements are among the most significant practices of informal social protection against social risks and exclusion among transnational families. This article argues that remittances can provide social protection in cases where formal welfare services do not reach the citizens properly. Furthermore, it illustrates how members of Filipino transnational families can create sustainable informal social protection and utilise it long-term. The transnational practices are analysed to show how migrant capital, particularly the intersection of economic and social capital (Bourdieu, 1986), is transferred to informal social protection through meaningful reciprocity between the senders and recipients of remittances. Successful allocation of remittances and negotiation of care arrangements depend on the realisation of reciprocity and its social context, such as life circumstances, moral obligations and migrants’ personal goals for migration. The data draw on observations and 41 qualitative interviews conducted both in Finland and in the Philippines.

This dissertation contributes to enhancing the knowledge about financial inclusion by focusing on its consequences in emerging economies. Chapter 1 emphasizes the importance of financial inclusion, defined as access to and use of financial services, and relates the different chapters to the overall topic. Chapter 2 analyzes whether the mode of providing access to finance itself changes financial behavior and business outcomes. It analyzes a randomized controlled trial which provided a one-time cash transfer to micro and small entrepreneurs in Kampala, Uganda, in 2013. One half of the treatment group received the transfer in cash, the other half had the money transferred on their bank accounts, which we assume to work as a soft commitment device inducing entrepreneurs to rather use the money for business related expenses. We do not find any direct effect of the transfer on monthly profits and capital stock. However, we detect positive short-term treatment effects on the more "upstream" variables inventories and sales for entrepreneurs in the account treatment group. Chapter 3 analyzes determinants of financial inclusion and focuses on financial literacy as a possible demand side driver of inclusion. It combines cross country data on financial literacy with information on financial inclusion, financial infrastructure, and other country characteristics. We establish a robust positive relation between financial literacy and four different dimensions of financial inclusion. Considering institutional variation across countries and regarding "access to finance", financial literacy and financial infrastructure mainly substitute each other. With regards to the "use of finance", higher financial literacy strengthens the effect of more financial depth. To respond to reverse causality concerns, we employ an instrumental variable strategy, which supports a causal interpretation of our results. Further robustness checks do not alter the findings either. Last, Chapter 4 points out

Dieses Working Paper analysiert die Armutsgefährdung der österreichischen Familien mit Kindern anhand dreier Erhebungswellen des EU-SILC (2011-2013). Eingangs werden die Armutsgefährdungsquoten im EU-Vergleich aufgezeigt und anschließend nach ihrer konkreten Zusammensetzung in Österreich dargestellt. So wird ersichtlich, welche Transferleistungen, wie z.B. Familienbeihilfe oder Mehrkindzuschlag, die Armutsgefährdung signifikant reduzieren. Schließlich werden fünf Messkonzepte für Armutsgefährdung simuliert und ihre Veränderungen durch Steigerungen der Transferleistungen aufgezeigt. Es zeigt sich, dass die kinderbezogene Armutsgefährdung von Mehrkindfamilien durch kinderzahlabhängige Transferleistungen tatsächlich gut und weitgehend reduzierbar ist.

This article presents an investigation of the problems of Ukrainian migrants abroad. Due to the very difficult financial and socio-economic situation in Ukraine, many people have decided to go abroad to work, to study or to marry. Very often they face problems of attitude towards them as citizens of a "Third country". They are sometimes seen as third class people and as modern slaves because even their own country does not value their lives and labor, does not care about them either at home or abroad. Their country does not know the numbers of Ukrainian migrants abroad and their children who are "orphans with living parents". Therefore, the "value of life and labor" of Ukrainian labor migrants abroad is very cheap as they often accept heavy and unskilled jobs for little money in order to send this money to Ukraine. Unfortunately, this is the only time when their lives and their remittances are valued by the state as a part of Ukraine's GDP and a source for future government tax revenue in Ukraine.

Ecological Fiscal Transfers (EFT) have recently gained attention as a promising instrument to provide incentives for nature conservation addressing public authorities. In parallel, both the EU and different European countries are exploring new mechanisms to mobilise funding to support biodiversity conservation. So far, existing EFT mechanisms in Europe have been implemented at the national level in Portugal and, to some extent, in France while in Brazil EFT schemes exist between the state and local level. In this paper we develop a proposal for an EFT design within the supranational context of the EU and assess its potential effects with evidence-based estimates. To provide such a knowledge base for a potential supranational EU-EFT implementation, we i) provide a theoretical underpinning, and an analytical synthesis of the current experiences both with the uptake of EFT and the implementation of EU’s nature conservation legislation (i.e. the Habitats and Bird Directives), ii) propose a model for an EFT implementation within the existing EU funding framework for N2k financing which is built upon both quantitative and qualitative conservation indicators, iii) compute fiscal effects of our suggested model and analyse how the resulting payments would be (spatially) distributed among European regions, and iv) discuss the model outcomes in terms of ecological effectiveness, distributive effects, and cost-efficiency. Thereby we aim at stimulating a debate about how to better integrate ecological public functions within multi-level and supra-national governance structures.

Lateinamerika und die Karibik sind international Vorreiter für ein neues Verhältnis zwischen Staaten und Emigranten - von der Ausweitung des Auslandswahlrechts bis hin zur öffentlichen Kofinanzierung, wenn Rücküberweisungen aus dem Ausland in Entwicklungsprojekte investiert werden. Diese aktive Politik gegenüber den Ausgewanderten stellt jedoch Herkunfts- und Residenzstaaten vor erhebliche Herausforderungen. Allein in den USA leben rund 18 Millionen Emigranten aus Lateinamerika und der Karibik. Der Anteil der ausgewanderten Bürger beträgt in manchen Ländern der Region 15 Prozent der Bevölkerung. Abwanderung ist nicht nur Verlust. Rücküberweisungen der Emigranten sind zentrale Säulen vieler Volkswirtschaften - bis hin zu 20 Prozent des BSP in El Salvador. In Lateinamerika insgesamt erreichten sie im Jahr 2014 nicht weniger als 65 Mrd. USD. Emigranten sind heute in vielfältigen Formen mit den Herkunftsländern verbunden und in ihre Gesellschaften involviert. Geldüberweisungen sind nur die Spitze des Eisbergs dieser transnationalen Netzwerke. Die Staaten Lateinamerikas und der Karibik entwickeln Politikansätze, die explizit auf die emigrierten Landsleute zielen, um deren soziale, wirtschaftliche, kulturelle und politische Bindungen an das Herkunftsland zu stärken. Bei diesen "Emigrant Policies" ist die Region Vorreiter eines zunehmend globalen Trends. Das wichtigste Politikfeld dabei sind staatsbürgerliche Rechte, gefolgt von sozialpolitischen Maßnahmen, die eine Ausweitung wohlfahrtsstaatlicher Funktionen über die Staatsgrenzen hinaus darstellen. Fazit: Auch für die Aufnahmestaaten der Migranten sind diese Entwicklungen wichtig. Manche Staaten helfen ihren emigrierten Bürgern aktiv dabei, sich in die dortige Gesellschaft zu integrieren. Solche Politikansätze können die Integrationskosten für Emigranten senken - und bieten ein bislang wenig genutztes Potenzial für die Kooperation von Herkunfts- und Zielstaaten.

This paper aims to illustrate how international remittances may relate to food consumption and deprivation in Indonesia. The idea is that international remittances may contribute to the reduction of poverty, and since food consumption is an element with which to measure poverty line, this paper intends to show whether international remittances are more likely to be received by poorer households-based on food consumption level in the households. Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and the data from the Indonesia Family Life Survey (IFLS4), this paper illustrates the mapping of international remittances and food consumption in some of Indonesia's provinces. The spatial analysis shows correlation between international remittances and food consumption. International remittances tend to be received by households who have less spending on food. The geographical pattern shows that international remittances are more likely to be received by poorer households based on their food consumption. The result to some extent supports the view that international remittances might benefit the poor the most, particularly on tackling poverty, as poorer households are more likely to receive the remittances.