Publication:
Remittances and Banking Sector Breadth and Depth : Evidence from Mexico

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2009-06-01
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2012-03-19
Author(s)
López Córdova, Ernesto
Martínez Pería, María Soledad
Woodruff, Christopher
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Abstract
Despite the rising volume of remittances flowing to developing countries, their impact on banking sector breadth and depth in recipient countries has been largely unexplored. The authors examine this topic using municipio-level data on the fraction of households that receive remittances and on measures of banking breadth and depth for Mexico. They find that remittances are strongly associated with greater banking breadth and depth, increasing the number of branches and accounts per capita and the ratio of deposits to gross domestic product. These effects are significant both statistically and economically, even after conducting robustness tests and addressing the potential endogeneity of remittances.
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López Córdova, Ernesto; Demirgüç-Kunt, Asli; Martínez Pería, María Soledad; Woodruff, Christopher. 2009. Remittances and Banking Sector Breadth and Depth : Evidence from Mexico. Policy Research working paper ; no. WPS 4983. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/4175 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
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