Remittances and savings from international migration: Theory and evidence using a matched sample

The central question of this paper concerns the implications of remittance flows for migrants and their origin households in the country of origin. This paper represents the first attempt to present a disaggregated view of international remittance flows using a matched sample of international migrants and their origin families. I investigate two types of remittances: transfers to the home family and savings in the country of origin. The empirical evidence provides support for the altruistic model of transfer behavior. Wealthier origin families tend to receive lower transfers, other things being equal. However, remittances sent to finance origin country investments are positively associated with origin household wealth. The estimation strategy addresses two common problems that arise in investigating remittance behavior: omitted variable bias and the measurement of origin household resources.     

The future of Scotland's international tourism markets

This paper explains the rationale behind a tourism marketing strategy prepared for Scotland, as an example of a small-nation destination. In 1985, a typical international tourist to Scotland would have been be described as ‘American, over-50 and interested in heritage’, whereas today the typical tourist is ‘European, under-35 and interested in culture’. The change can be explained within the context of global tourism trends, which provide an insightful explanation of this transformation. Looking to the future, the prospects up to 2025 are assessed in this paper, based upon future trends and UN WTO projections. Is that future to be based upon arrivals from North America, European or the Rest of the World? Whatever the scenario, a strategy is presented that captures the essence of Scotland's international tourism expectations based upon key drivers and market prospects. In a highly competitive market, Scotland should focus on markets that it can win and that can contribute towards the industry's ambition to grow the economic value of tourism by 50% by the year 2015 through strong branding and a focused marketing proposition.     

Knowledge transfer in collaborations between foreign and indigenous firms in the Nigerian oil industry: The role of partners' motivational characteristics

Previous empirical studies on determinants of interfirm knowledge transfer have been largely focused on knowledge transfer between symmetrical partners, where there are relatively similar levels of knowledge sophistication and complementary knowledge‐transfer motives. Determinants of knowledge transfer between partners in asymmetric “market‐exploitation” alliances, where there are large differences in capabilities, and in motives, of the collaborating partners, have been understudied. This article presents a qualitative case study‐research of knowledge transfer in such collaborations in the Nigerian oil industry. Four cases of interfirm collaborative arrangements between foreign and local indigenous firms in the industry were studied and analyzed. Based on the results of the case study research, this article highlights the dominant role of partners' motivational characteristics, as against, their cognitive characteristics in the knowledge‐transfer process of asymmetric market‐exploitation alliances. It develops a set of theoretical propositions to expand the understanding of the key determinants of learning and knowledge transfer.     

Charitable giving inside and outside the workplace: the role of individual and firm characteristics

Over the past several decades, charitable solicitations in the workplace have played an increasing role in the fundraising strategies of nonprofit organizations. Although many studies have examined the factors that influence overall charitable giving, very few studies have focused on giving when asked to donate in the workplace. This paper examines the determinants of charitable giving in and outside of the workplace in addition to the role of individual and firm-level characteristics. The study is based on one of the largest surveys of workplace giving including unique information on both workplace giving and overall charitable giving for 6000 employees in the USA. Specific factors uniquely influence charitable giving in the workplace. An employee's personal level of confidence in the nonprofit sector is strongly likely to influence workplace donations. At the firm level, an organization's size and industry also affect the presence of workplace campaigns and giving trends. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Does female schooling reduce fertility? Evidence from Nigeria

The literature generally points to a negative relationship between female education and fertility. Citing this pattern, policymakers have advocated educating girls and young women as a means to reduce population growth and foster sustained economic and social welfare in developing countries. This paper tests whether the relationship between fertility and education is indeed causal by investigating the introduction of universal primary education in Nigeria. Exploiting differences in program exposure by region and age, the paper presents reduced form and instrumental variables estimates of the impact of female education on fertility. The analysis suggests that increasing female education by one year reduces early fertility by 0.26 births.     

Crises and confidence: Systemic banking crises and depositor behavior

We show that individuals who have experienced a systemic banking crisis are 11 percentage points less likely to use banks in the U.S. than otherwise similar individuals who emigrated from the same country but did not live through a crisis. This finding is robust to controlling for exposure to other macroeconomic events and to various methods for addressing potential bias due to migrant self-selection. Consistent with the view that personal experience plays an important role in decision-making, the effects are larger for individuals who were older and more likely to have had wealth entrusted to the banking system at the time of the crisis and for people who experienced crises in countries without deposit insurance.