Do remittances matter for health outcomes in developing countries? Fresh evidence from a panel vector autoregressive (PVAR) model
International Journal of Development Issues
ISSN: 1446-8956
Article publication date: 13 September 2022
Issue publication date: 20 September 2022
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to contribute to the growing literature on the effects of remittances and the determinants of health outcomes by analysing for the first time the effect of remittances on health outcomes in developing countries using a panel vector autoregression (PVAR) model.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses panel data from 107 developing countries over the period from 1990 to 2018 to examine the effect of remittances on health outcome in developing countries.
Findings
The main findings from study is that remittances improve health outcomes in developing countries. Another finding of this study is that income, trade, foreign direct investment and financial devlopment improve health outcome.
Originality/value
The contribution of this study is fourfold. Firstly, it adopts the PVAR methodology in a Generalized Method of Moments framework proposed by Abrigo and Love (2016). Secondly, it analyses the implications of remittances on health outcomes by relying on two comprehensive measures of health outcomes commonly used in the literature which are life expectancy at birth and the rate of under-five mortality rates. Thirdly, we identify governance and maternal education as the channels through which remittances improve health outcomes in developing countries. Finally, the current paper covers an extensive time span (29 years) and focuses on a large sample (107 countries).
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are highly indebted to Dr Njangang H., Dr Kamguia B. and Dr Tadadjeu S. for their kind support from immature ideas to the end of this article. They also thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and helpful suggestions. However, any remaining error is solely attributable to the authors.
Findings: The main finding from this study is that remittances improve health outcomes in developing countries. Moreover, we find that income, trade, foreign direct investment and financial development improve health outcomes. Further analysis permitted us to find that the positive effect of remittances on health outcomes transits through maternal education and governance.
Citation
Djeunankan, R. and Tekam, H. (2022), "Do remittances matter for health outcomes in developing countries? Fresh evidence from a panel vector autoregressive (PVAR) model", International Journal of Development Issues, Vol. 21 No. 3, pp. 458-482. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJDI-04-2022-0079
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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