75-98

• Konica, Nevila
• Filer, Randall K.

Survey evidence establishes the magnitude and determinants of emigration from Albania during the first years of transition. By 1996, between 300,000 and 400,000 Albanians were working abroad. These tended to be young men from large, low income, rural families and sent more than $800 million back to Albania in remittances in 1996. These remittances increased consumption and living standards and were, along with human capital acquired abroad, important in private sector development. They also had an income effect that served to reduce unemployment in Albania by reducing female labor supply.

• Economics and Business

• Migrations of nations
• Labor economics

Albania, emigration, remittances, labor supply, business formation

Περιέχει σημειώσεις, διαγράμματα, πίνακες και βιβλιογραφία, This paper is based on dr. Konica’s dissertation at CErGE-EI. The authors would like to thank the Institute for Advanced Studies, Vienna for support in conducting the household survey in Albania. The assistance of students from Tirana University in the interviewing process is gratefully acknowledged. We would also like to thank Andreas Woergotter, Libor Krkoska and Jan Svejnar for comments and suggestions., JEL classification : P2, J61, R23