ABSTRACT
This chapter reflects an effort to provide a critical synthesis of the literature on remittances, their generating factors and their effects in the economy of the migrant sending country. The discussion will focus on the theoretical and methodological issues as well as empirical analysis, where greater emphasis will be given to the analytical approaches and the nature of the findings and less on the specific quantitative results in various countries. An attempt will be made to pinpoint and explain some of the similarities and contrasts of theories and realities and interpret the empirical findings with respect to the theoretical hypotheses to which they are related.
