Do remittances increase the use of care?

Summary Do remittances sent by migrants have an impact on their families' consumption of health care at home? By relaxing the budget constraint, remittances should improve access to care, especially in systems with low public health spending. However, one may suspect that remittances are endogenous, as the need for care may induce migrants to send more money. This paper examines the issue in the case of Tajikistan, where there is both high direct health spending and a high dependence on migration. It uses data from the Tajikistan Living Standards Survey (2007). The results show that transfers have a positive but heterogeneous impact depending on the level of health care consumption.