Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Study on improving the efficiency of workers’ remittances by EIB

It's remittance time this week....

Here's another report, now by the European Investment Bank, on the efficiency of workers’ remittances in Mediterranean countries.

The interesting question is of course, if one compares different ways of sending money back to one's home country, what would you do...?

If you knew your brother or nephew would be visiting the home-country, would you then give the money to him, or would you go to Western Union...?

Could it be that it is not just the financial side of sending money that is relevant in choosing the optimum method for remittances.... but that the trust factor needs to be factored in....?

And if so, do studies, assuming a rational choice based on the price of remittance instruments in order to achieve maximum efficiency, make sense?