Remittance Use And Wellbeing: Evidence From Ghana’s Experience

ABSTRACT Research into the developmental impact of remittances in developing countries suggests that remittances play an important role in alleviating poverty and improving households’ consumption welfare. Notwithstanding, some scholars are of the view that much of the impetus behind the significant contributions remittances make to wellbeing hinge on the uses to which remittances are put by households. Drawing on data from the 2012/13 Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS VI), this study empirically explores whether the uses to which remittances are put by households play a pivotal role in determining their wellbeing and examines the factors that determine households’ use of remittances for daily consumption purposes. More specifically, the study analyzes the effect of remittance use on household consumption welfare and poverty status. In evaluating the effect of remittance use and wellbeing, this study employed descriptive statistics to examine the poverty status of households by the age group of the household head, the sex of the household head, rural-urban locale, household size and other variables and used the multiple linear regression model to analyze the consumption welfare effects of remittance use. Also, the study used the probit model to determine the factors that affect the use of remittances for daily consumption and explore the poverty effects of remittance use. The study reveals that the poverty status of households, household size, the ecological zones in which households live, and the sex, age, and employment status of household heads significantly determine the use of remittances for daily consumption purposes. More importantly, the study shows that households who use remittances for housing, business, health, funerals, and other ceremonies have better consumption welfare levels compared to those who use remittances for daily consumption. In addition, the study reveals that whilst households who use remittances for funerals have higher probabilities of becoming poor, those who spend remittances on housing, business, ceremonies iv (other than funerals) and health have lower probabilities of becoming poor compared to those who spend remittances on daily consumption. The study thus lends empirical support to the view that remittance use for investments or productive activities has beneficial consumption welfare and poverty-reducing effects than for the use for consumption purposes. Key Words: Remittance Use, Poverty, Welfare, Human Capital, Investment, Consumption.