Visiting-economists through Hirschman`s eyes

Since the nineteenth century, Latin America and other poor areas of the world received periodical visits from missions of economic experts. This paper analyzes the picture that Hirschman draws of these money doctors, whose main task was to advise on the economic and financial reforms that were deemed necessary for economic development. Hirschman coins the expression `visiting-economist syndrome` to criticize the work done by these money doctors. I discuss whether Hirschman, as a money doctor himself, was able to acquire immunity from the disease he feared.

A model of migrants' remittances with human capital investment and intrafamilial transfers

This study analyzes data on migrants' remittances using a two-period theory of intergenerational transfers based on an informal, intrafamilial loan arrangement using weak altruism, a behavior between strong altruism and pure self-interest. The model provides an integrated theory of migrants' remittances, human capital investment decisions, and intrafamilial transfers applicable to low-income countries with no official pension schemes and imperfect capital markets. Propositions, derived from the theory, are tested, re-analyzing original survey data on remittances of Pacific island migrants in Sydney. When weak altruism and strong altruism yield opposite predictions, the econometric results tend to confirm the former hypothesis and invalidate the latter.