Role of migration and remittances Remittances play a critical social insurance role - and this has significant impact on both poverty and equity (Kapur, 2003). Remittances for some Asian countries, especially for South-Asia, are very high constituting about 63 per cent of total net inflows.
Remittances finance consumption, land and housing purchases and philanthropy and they are an important soruce of social insurance in lower income countries. The effects of remittances are complex and are a function of the characteristics of migrants and the households they leave behind, their motivations, and the overall economic environment.