Emigration and Impact of Utilisation of Remittances at Household Level in India: A Propensity Score Matching Approach

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of remittances on the socio-economic circumstances of poor and non-poor households receiving remittances and also shows the impact of remittances at the source region in India. We use data from the 64th round of National Sample Survey. It is estimated that there are 3.49 million emigrant households. A vast disparity exists in the utilization of remittances in day to day life expenditure and human capital formation by remittances receiving households. There has been an impact of remittances on the emigrant households in the source region. Based on propensity score matching, the paper shows that remittances have a positive and strong effect on reducing rural household poverty compared with urban households.