Ratha, Dilip, Sanket Mohapatra, and Sonia Plaza. 2008. Beyond Aid: New Sources and Innovative Mechanisms for Financing Development in Sub-Saharan Africa. The development community has little choice but to continue to explore new sources of financing, innovative private-to-private sector solutions, and public-private partnerships to mobilize additional international financing. An analysis of country creditworthiness suggests that many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa may be more creditworthy than previously believed. (Forthcoming as a Policy Research Working Paper and a chapter in “Africa at a Turning Point,” edited by John Page and Delfin Go.)

Adams, Jr., Richard H., Alfredo Cuecuecha, and John Page. 2008. Remittances, consumption and investment in Ghana. This paper uses a new, nationally-representative household survey from Ghana to analyze within a rigorous econometric framework how the receipt of internal remittances (from within Ghana) and international remittances (from African or other countries) affects the marginal spending behavior of households on a broad range of consumption and investment goods, including food, education and housing.  (World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No 4515)

Ratha, Dilip, Prabal De and Sanket Mohapatra. 2007. Shadow Sovereign Ratings for Unrated Developing Countries. This paper develops a model for predicting sovereign ratings for developing countries. It finds that several of the 70 plus unrated countries may have a ‘B’ or higher rating, comparable to the ratings of many established emerging markets. These results, along with a stylized relationship between spreads and ratings presented in the paper, can be useful for securitization of remittances and other future flows. (World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 4269.)

Ketkar, Suhas and Dilip Ratha. 2007. Development Finance via Diaspora Bonds: Track Record and Potential. A diaspora bond is a debth instrument issued by a country - or potentially, a sub-sovereign entity or a private corporation - to raise financing from its overseas diaspora. Israel and India have raised $35-40 billion using these bonds. Drawing on their experiences, this paper discusses the rationale, methodology, and factors affecting the issuance of diaspora bonds for raising external development finance.

Ratha, Dilip. 2007. Leveraging Remittances for Development. Paper presented at the Second Plenary Meeting of the Leading Group on Solidarity Levies to Fund Development, Oslo, February 6-7, 2007; and at the Brainstorming session on Migration and Development organized by the Migration Policy Institute and the German Marshall Fund of the United States, Brussels, February 27, 2007.This note summarizes the international remittances agenda. It highlights recent trends, outlines policy interventions to facilitate remittance flows, and explains how to leverage these flows for financial access of households and capital market access of financial intermediaries.

Ratha, Dilip, and William Shaw. 2007. South-South Migration and Remittances. World Bank, Washington, D.C.Contrary to popular perception, new research reported in this paper shows that nearly half of migrants from the South are in the South. Developing countries face complex challenges not only as countries of origin, but also as countries of destination. (Also available for  purchase)

Ratha, Dilip, 2007. Why Should Financial Institutions Care about Remittances? Paper presented at the workshop on "The Impact of Remittances on Finance for Development: Analyzing Operational Frameworks" orgainzed by the OECD Development Centre and the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and of Finance, held on March 12, 2007 in Madrid, Spain.Financial institutions can provide cheaper and more efficient remittance services. They can also leverage remittances to boost growing deposit, loan, and insurance products and to raise external financing through securitization of remittances and issuance of diaspora bonds.

Background papers for Global Economic Prospects 2006

Lowell, B. Lindsay, and Stefka G. Gerova. 2004. “Diasporas and Economic Development: State of Knowledge.”  World Bank, Washington. September.

Freund, Caroline, and Nikola Spatafora. 2005. "Remittances: Costs, Determinants, and Informality."  World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 3704. Washington, DC.

Ratha, Dilip, and Jan Riedberg. 2005. "On Reducing Remittance Costs." Unpublished paper. Development Research Group, World Bank, Washington, DC.