The Impacts of Labeling Remittances on Migrants and Their Households in the Philippines

Remittances are one of the largest sources of financial flows to low- and middle-income countries, and researchers and decision-makers are interested in ways to increase their development impact. One promising approach is enabling migrants to label the remittances that they send home for a specific purpose, such as education or business activities. This evaluation builds on previous research and analyzed the impact of providing the option of labeled remittances to Filipino workers in the United Arab Emirates on the amount of remittances sent and what those remittances are used for by their recipients. The study found that the ability to label remittances with the migrant’s intended uses led migrants with low base levels of remittance activity to increase their remittances, while migrants with higher base remittance levels did not change their remittance behaviors.