Remittances, Household Investment and Poverty in Indonesia
This paper analyzes the impact of international remittances on household investment and poverty using panel data (2000 and 2007) from the Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS) Using a three stage conditional logit model with instrumental variables to control for selection and endogeneity, it finds that households receiving remittances in 2007 spend more at the margin on one key consumption good (food) and more at the margin on one important investment good (education) compared to what they would have spent on these goods without the receipt of remittances. Using a bivariate probit model with random effects to control for selection and simultaneity, the paper also finds that households receiving remittances are less likely to be poor compared to a situation in which they did not receive remittances. These findings are important because they show that households can use remittances to help build human capital and to reduce poverty in remittance receiving countries.