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The purpose of this study is to examine two issues about remittances in Central American countries (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua). First, whether the inflow of remittances impacts income in the long run. Second, what motivates migrants to send remittances? The first issue is analyzed in the context of a permanent income hypothesis, while the second is analyzed in the context of altruism versus self-interest motives.

A panel cointegration method is used to establish the long-run relationship between the variables under consideration. Further, this study uses the fully modified ordinary least squares method (FMOLS) to estimate the impact of remittances on income and consumption. The pooled mean group (PMG) estimation is used.

The test results indicate that remittances into Central American countries do not promote growth in the long run. Central American families may perceive remittances as a permanent income stream and will increase their current consumption. Additionally, the test results indicate that sending remittances of the Central American migrants is mainly driven by altruism. Their primary motive is to support left-behind families at times of economic hardship.

Findings provide an important implication for these Central American countries, as they have potential to boost income by utilizing remittance money in productivity-enhancing activities. This study could also provide valuable information for the governments of labor-exporting countries around the world to encourage and incentivize remittance recipient families to utilize those funds for income-generating activities.

In Central America, this is probably the first attempt in the literature to analyze the impact of remittances in the context of permanent income hypothesis and the motivation of Central American workers to send remittances to their countries of origin.

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether remittances induce inflation in South Asian countries, namely, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

This study uses panel cointegration and Pooled Mean Group techniques covering from 1975 to 2017 to estimate the long-run and the short-run effect of remittances on inflation.

The estimated results suggest that the inflationary impact of remittances in South Asia depends on the time length. The inflow tends to lower inflation in the short run, whereas it increases in the long run. The findings highlight the regional peculiarity in the impact of remittances on the price level. The results are statistically significant and are confirmed by the Mean Group estimation as well.

Most past studies investigating the nexus between remittances and inflation in the South Asian context examine either these countries individually or include them all in a pool of big cross-sections. This study contributes to the literature by addressing this void. The South Asian countries should not generalize the earlier findings on the link between remittance inflows and inflation, as the short-run effect is different from the long run. Thus, these countries would be better off designing long-run policies that are different from the short run.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the interlinkages among four major stock markets in Latin America, i.e., those in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico, as well as their associations with the US stock market, which influences financial markets globally.

Using the newly developed Hamilton filter methodology (Hamilton, 2018), the authors decompose each stock series to extract cyclical components.

Results indicate that the US S&P 500 is weakly contemporaneously correlated with stock market indices in Brazil, Mexico and Argentina, whereas it also leads the latter by three months. As such, sufficient time is available for policymakers and investors to enhance their forecasts of the latter.

Results indicate that the US S&P 500 is weakly contemporaneously correlated with stock market indices in Brazil, Mexico and Argentina, whereas it also leads the latter by three months. As such, sufficient time is available for policymakers and investors to enhance their forecasts of the latter.