Remittances and healthcare expenditure: Human capital investment or responses to shocks? Evidence from Peru

Abstract

This paper estimates the effect of international remittances on healthcare expenditures, taking into account both the interdependence with other consumption goods and the effects of health shocks. More precisely, we assess whether the budget allocation decisions of remittance‐receiving households reveal different preferences to invest in health capital, even when the simultaneous effect that health shocks may have on the demand of remittances and on other types of nondurable expenditures is accounted for. Using data from the “Peruvian National Survey of Households,” we find that remittances have a positive impact on healthcare budget shares, net of the remittance‐related income effect and independently of the occurrance of a health shock. They also have a positive impact on housing and a negative one on other expenditure items, that is, clothing, transport, and education. Hence, our results indicate a “pure” tendency of remittance‐receiving households to devote larger shares of their budget to health capital investment, rather than to other types of consumption goods.

International Remittances as a Driver of Domestic Tourism Expenditure: Evidence from Mexico

“…Overall, the estimations in which an instrumental variable approach is used (columns 2, 4 and 6) point toward a high statistically significant effect of international remittances on DTE, which is in line with studies indicating that remittances have a positive impact on the development of migrant-sending countries (Saadi 2020; J. E. Taylor and Castelhano 2016; Kumar 2014; Woodruff and Zenteno 2007; Acosta et al 2008), thereby improving the living standards and welfare of left-behind families (Berloffa and Giunti 2019; Miftah and Bouoiyour 2015; De Haas 2006; Adams and Page 2005; Koc and Onan 2004), and even positively affecting their subjective well-being, as recent research has shown (Ivlevs, Nikolova, and Graham 2019). 8…”

“…In literature, a wide range of variables has been used as instrument for remittances, depending on the data available and the aims of the analysis. These instruments include (1) economic incentives, such as salary gaps, local currency depreciation rates, and employment rate differentials between place of origin and destination (scholars argue that these types of variables influence the amounts of remittances sent but not how these are spent by households in communities of origin) (Acosta et al 2008; Yang 2008; McKenzie and Rapoport 2007); (2) rainfall patterns, which can be useful for analyzing outcomes in the receiving country (Lopez-Cordova 2006; Munshi 2003); (3) distance between places that send and receive remittances (an instrument that considers that a correlation between distance and the probability of migrating exist, but does not correlate to the potential earnings that a migrant might make in the country of destination nor to the amounts and frequency of remittances sent home) (López-Feldman and Chávez 2017; McKenzie, Stillman, and Gibson 2010; Adams and Page 2005); and (4) historical events, which have significantly shaped migratory patterns and often determine the evolution of migratory networks (which have prompted migratory flows and decisions to send remittances, although with no added impact on current income and expenditure in communities of origin) (Berloffa and Giunti 2019; Woodruff and Zenteno 2007).…”

Spatio-Temporal Comprehensive Measurements of Chinese Citizens’ Health Levels and Associated Influencing Factors

“…Among them, goal 3, "Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages", is an important health-related goal, which is not only the premise foundation of other goals, but also the ultimate goal of other goals. So, based on the existing research results [41][42][43][44][45][46], the present study followed the principles of comprehensiveness, effectiveness, representativeness, and independence. With a combination of SDGs and China's regional characteristics, our study selected relevant indices from three aspects, namely, citizens' health status, the health environment, and health services and guarantees, and used them to develop a comprehensive evaluation index system that can fully reflect the health levels of Chinese citizens in a relatively comprehensive manner (Table 1).…”

Does remittance protect the household from catastrophic health expenditure in India

“…A large body of literature has focused on the influences of migration on health consequences of left behind households have a net positive and negative effect (Antman, 2013). A number of studies also explored the capital investments on health of the left behind households (De la Briere et al, 2002;Berloffa and Giunti, 2019;Dorantes et al, 2007). In addition, monetary transfer or remittances, may have an effect on health by relaxing liquidity constraints, that could otherwise translate into better health care utilization (Dorante and Pozo, 2011).…”

“…In addition, monetary transfer or remittances, may have an effect on health by relaxing liquidity constraints, that could otherwise translate into better health care utilization (Dorante and Pozo, 2011). Studies found that remittances are used as a coping strategy to reduce the adverse consequences of health blows by left behind family members (Mohanty et al, 2014;Berloffa and Giunti, 2019).…”