International migration and remittances to a Lebanese village

"A number of hypotheses concerning remittances from foreign emigrants are developed and tested using questionnaire survey data from Lala, a Lebanese village. According to the theory, a rural family engages in an implicit insurance-type contract with the potential migrant because both are averse to risk.... Results from testing the hypotheses are somewhat consistent with the proposition that, after a period of adjustment, migrants do begin to remit, thereby providing their families with an insurance against the uncertainties of life in the country of origin. However, the level of remittances does not appear to depend on the potential to inherit from a family's wealth. Moreover, families do not seem to invest in their migrants so as to improve their farm lands and to undertake risky agricultural techniques. The long-term remittance commitment of migrants to their residual families suggests that migrants' altruism may be a more significant motivating factor than self-interest." (SUMMARY IN FRE)