Do migrant networks foster transnational solidarity? Network integration and remittance incentives among Senegalese in France and Italy

Flore Gubert, IRD, UMR 225 DIAL et PSE
Jean-Noel Senne, CREST and DIAL
Isabelle Chort, PSE

The economic literature provides much evidence of the positive impact of social capital on migrants' economic outcomes. Although less documented, migrant networks may also have a great influence on migrants' remitting behavior. Given all the services provided by the network, the fear of being ostracized by its members and being left with no support could indeed provide an incentive for migrants to remit, as an affirmation of their community membership. In this paper, we thus analyze to what extent migrant networks in the destination country influence the degree to which migrants meet the claims of those left behind. We first develop a model in which remittances are the result of a contractual agreement between the migrant and his origin household and the network works as an enforcement device. We then use an original data set covering Senegalese migrants residing in France and Italy to test the predictions of our model.