SAWTEE researchers share their research findings at the 2019 PEP Annual Conference, Cape Town, South Africa

Dikshya Singh and Pragati Koirala, researchers at South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment (SAWTEE), delivered a presentation about their research findings on May 30 at the 2019 PEP Annual Conference. The Partnership for Economic Policy (PEP) is an international non-profit organization that links researchers globally to enhance the quality of policy research in developing countries. The annual conference, being held at Cape Town, South Africa, on May 29-June 3, 2019, gathers development researchers, practitioners, leading experts and policy stakeholders from around the world, to discuss issues, challenges and opportunities in the area of economic policy analysis.

Dikshya and Pragati are a part of the research team in SAWTEE that estimated the impact of international remittances on the left-behind household members labour supply in non-farm self-employment in Nepal and on the performance of the non-farm enterprises these left-behind household members operate.  Using advanced econometric models, the study finds that the left-behind household members, and in particular women, significantly reduce their labour supply in non-farm enterprises as a result of an increase in household remittance receipts. The study also finds that the enterprises operated by remittance receivers see an increase in their revenues with an increase in remittance income. These findings call for plans and policies that create favourable conditions for remittance-receiving left-behind individuals, particularly females, to start new businesses.

The study was led by Dr. Paras Kharel, Research Director, SAWTEE. The research benefited from financial and technical support from the PEP. For more on PEP Annual Conference, please visit https://www.pep-net.org/2019-pep-annual-conference.