This article discusses why it is not surprising that empirical studies of the effect of remittances on the distribution of income sometimes find that remittances increase inequality and sometimes find that they decrease it. As has been shown by Stark, Taylor and Yitzhaki (1986), the impact depends on the share of remittances in total income, the distribution of remittances, and where the recipients of remittances are located in the overall distribution of income. These factors differ across locations over time.
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