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Do remittances affect poverty and inequality Evidence from Mali

Author : Gubert, F., Lassourd, T., & Mesplé-Somps, S.

Year: 2009

Acc. No: 257-S

Category: Soft Documents

Type of Resource: Poverty, Remittances, Inequality, Income distribution, Household surveys

ISBN: English

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Using a 2006 household survey in Mali, we compare current poverty rates and inequality levels with counterfactual ones in the absence of migration and remittances. With proper hypotheses on migrants and a selection model, we are able to impute a counterfactual income for households currently receiving remittances. We show that remittances reduce poverty rates by 5% to 11% and the Gini coefficient by about 5%. Households in the bottom quintiles are more dependent on remittances, which are less substitutable by additional workforce.
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