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• Markova, Eugenia
• Reilly, Barry

Migrant remittances have assumed an increased importance over the last decade for many transitional economies and in Bulgaria now account for close to 4% of officially measured GDP. Private transfers from a broad can play an important role in preventing households from falling into poverty and in stimulating economic development through investment. In spite of the scale of migrant remittances for Bulgaria at the macroeconomic level, there is limited understanding of their determinants at a micro-level. This paper attempts to fill the gap in our understanding of the factors that influence migrant remittances to Bulgaria using micro-level data. A particular focus in this study is on the role of a migrant’s legal status. This paper reports estimates for remittance functions using data drawn from a unique survey conducted among legal and illegal Bulgarian immigrants in the city of Madrid in late 2003 and in the early months of 2004.

• Economics and Business
• Computer and information sciences

• Economics
• Migrations of nations
• Statistics

Bulgarian, migrants, remittances, legal status

Περιέχει πίνακες, σημειώσεις και βιβλιογραφία, This research was financed by the European Commission Marie Curie Individual Post-Doctoral Fellowships Programme 2002-2004. The authors would like to thank an anonymous referee of this journal for constructive comments. The authors are especially grateful to the Bulgarian immigrants in Madrid, whose patience and friendly attitude made this work possible. However, the usual disclaimer applies., JEL Classification: J61