Workers' Remittances to Former Soviet States

Workers' remittances are an important source of external finance for many former Soviet countries. Nevertheless, the determinants of remittances are only rarely analyzed. Using panel-data estimation techniques the study comes to the following major results: Remittances are highly persistent. They can only be partly explained by income. Furthermore, the performance of the domestic banking sector and the access of the private sector to credit play an important role. Better international integration and a better quality of institutions lead to an increase in remittances.