Diaspora transferts statut social et inégalité

We consider a model that extends the scope of social preferences of the families of the migrants. This extension allows us to show that if some poor families receive remittances and social culture affects the composition of their consumption, then in presence of strong social inequality, poor families tend to consume more conspicuous goods in order to hide their real hierarchical social position. This finding may explain why remittances are more allocated to consumption rather to the productive investments.