Asymmetric Migrant-Recipient Preference Divergence

In Simple Words

Senders living abroad and recipient families at home evaluate financial needs through different lenses, like a remote sponsor wanting money spent on building repairs while the resident family uses cash for everyday groceries and bills.

Research question

Transnational families face a principal-agent conflict where overseas senders prioritize long-term capital investments or savings while home recipient households favor immediate consumption.

Participants

N = 4,458 retained migrant workers in UAE and 2,075 paired recipient households in the Philippines.

Study Design

RCT baseline survey measuring migrant-designated priority expenditure items against endline household expenditure outcomes.

Results

40% of migrant senders expressed a desire for more control over how recipient households use remittances, and 56% report instructing recipients on fund usage; however, labeling resulted in a statistically non-significant change of -0.200 log points in expenditure on migrants' priority items.

Takeaway

Implement structural financial constraints or targeted vouchers rather than voluntary communication signals when addressing principal-agent misalignment in transnational families.

Read alongside the research

Plain-English glossary

Original explanations, informed by the references below. Examples are illustrations, not data from the studies above. The research text stays unchanged.

Baseline

The starting measurements in a study. Researchers use these to compare what participants were like at the start with what happens later.

ExampleBefore a training programme starts, researchers measure workers’ earnings. That first measurement is the baseline.

GET-IT glossary · Baseline characteristics ↗Read more about baseline →

Randomized controlled trial

A study that uses chance, like drawing lots, to decide who receives each option being compared. Researchers compare the groups’ outcomes to estimate the effect of those options.

ExampleA lottery assigns volunteers to a training programme or a comparison group. Researchers then compare their outcomes.

GET-IT glossary · Randomized study ↗Read more about randomized controlled trial →

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