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.汇款是流向中低收入国家的最大金融流动来源之一，研究者与政策制定者始终致力于探索提升其发展效益的可行路径。其中一种颇具潜力的方式，是允许移民为汇往国内的汇款指定具体用途并进行标注，例如用于教育或商业经营活动。本评估依托既往研究开展，针对在阿拉伯联合酋长国（United Arab Emirates）务工的菲律宾劳工推出标注汇款用途的可选服务，分析该举措对汇款金额及收款方实际资金使用用途的影响。研究结果显示，能够按照自身预设用途标注汇款的移民群体中，初始汇款规模较低的劳工汇款金额有所提升；而初始汇款规模较高的劳工，其汇款行为未发生显著变化。