To Send, Or Not To Send: That Is The Question. A Review of The Literature On Workers' Remittances

This paper reviews the empirical literature on workers' remittances. Basedon the empirical evidence, we are able to assess the facts and myths about the determinantsand consequences of remittances. We also discuss the potential implicationsof our findings for the theoretical literature on remittances and account for theopen-ended questions that still remain. The review suggests that there are severalmotivations to remit and it does not seem that one specific motivation has been consistentlyselected over the others. The literature also suggests that remittances havethe potential to impact a large number of variables related to the recipient countryand household.