Migration Decisions , Remittances , and Altruism

It is understandable that remittances are larger if the migrant is more altruistic. However, remittances that the household expects to receive, i.e. expected remittances, depend not only on remittances by the migrant, who has already moved to the host county, but also on how likely it is that a household member, a potential migrant, actually migrates. Such a probability can also be affected by altruism. However, previous studies focused mainly on the effects of altruism on remittances by the migrant. In this study, we investigate the effects of altruism on migration decisions by the potential migrant, as well as on remittances by the migrant, to make clear how altruism affects expected remittances. We show that altruism and the income difference between the host and home countries increase remittances by the migrant. However, if migration incurs costs, the potential migrant does not necessarily migrate, and for a given income difference, the potential migrant who is more altruistic is less likely to migrate. Therefore, expected remittances do not necessarily increase with the degree of altruism. In particular, expected remittances are likely to be smaller if the potential migrant is more altruistic when the host country’s income is sufficiently larger than the home country’s