Remittances and Inequality: A Question of Migration Stage and Geographic Scale*

Abstract

The impact of migrant remittances on the place of migrant origin is examined using data from a 1988 household study undertaken in central Zacatecas state, Mexico. The focus is on whether remittances tend to increase or to decrease income inequalities. "Interfamilial inequalities are found first to decrease and then to increase as a place's migration experience deepens. Throughout this experience, however, rural incomes improve relative to urban ones, since remittances are targeted to the predominantly rural areas of origin."