REMITTANCES AND HOUSEHOLD EXPENDITURES: EVIDENCE FROM CAMEROON

This article analyses how internal or international remittances received by household affects their marginal spending behavior. The study use micro-economic data of ECAM III, recipients' households being the one which received remittances to their migrants one year before the survey. Two findings emerge after controlling for self-selection. First, households receiving international remittances spend less at the margin on one key consumption good - food - compared to households without remittances. Second, households receiving either internal or international remittances spend more at the margin on two investments goods - education and housing - compare to households without remittances. These findings support the growing view that remittances are a provisional income for recipients' households, mainly devoted to investment expenditures rather than consumption expenditures.