Recipients of PSC Small Grant Awards
Channeling Remittances toward Human Capital Investment in Central America
Dean Yang and Catherine Ambler
We implement a randomized field experiment to examine how two interventions– subsidies for the fee charged to send remittances and information about the average returns to education– impact the remittance behavior of Guatemalan and Salvadoran migrants. The target sample is composed of 800 migrants in the Washington, D.C. metro area and the corresponding family member to whom they remit most frequently. We explore how the two interventions affect the size, amount, and frequency of remittances. We also conduct a variety of experimental lotteries as part of the baseline survey, testing how trust, impatience, and self-control issues play a part in migrants’ remittance decisions.
This project also received funding from the Marshall Weinberg Endowment.