World Bank Working Papers are published to communicate the results of the Bank's work to the development community with the least possible delay. The manuscript of this paper therefore has not been prepared in accordance with the procedures appropriate to formally-edited texts. Some sources cited in this paper may be informal documents that are not readily available. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of The World Bank or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of The World Bank of the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. The material in this publication is copyrighted. Copying and/or transmitting portions or all of this work without permission may be a violation of applicable law. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank encourages dissemination of its work and will normally grant permission promptly to reproduce portions of the work.

No abstract

No abstract

The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent. Policy Research Working Paper 4972Macro-and micro-economic evidence suggests a positive role of remittances in preparing households against natural disasters and in coping with the loss afterwards. Analysis of cross-country macroeconomic data shows that remittances increase in the aftermath of natural disasters in countries that have a larger number of migrants abroad. Analysis of household survey data in Bangladesh shows that per capita consumption was higher in remittance-receiving households than in others after the 1998 flood. Ethiopian households that receive This paper-a joint product of the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) Unit, Sustainable Development Network Vice Presidency, and the Migration and Remittances Team of the Development Prospects Group, Development Economics Vice Presidency-is part of a larger effort of the GFDRR unit to disseminate the emerging findings of the forthcoming joint World Bank-UN Assessment of the Economics of Disaster Risk Reduction. Thanks to Antonio C. David for his contribution to the macroeconomic analysis when he was at the Development Prospects Group in early 2008. We are grateful to the reviewer, Dean Yang, for his advice and suggestions, and to Saroj

This paper explores the developmental impacts of international remittance income on the recipient households. The empirical analysis proceeds in two parts. In the first part, we show that remittance income largely accrues to the families belonging to the bottom quintiles of the income distribution helping the recipient families move up the income ladder. In the second part, we show that remittance income has positive and significant effect on children health and education, but not on conspicuous consumption or asset accumulation. We argue that remittance income is targeted better and not as fungible as other sources of transfer income, as the senders closely monitor it. We use bias-corrected matching estimators to control for self-selection issues.