Do the Return Intentions of French Migrants Affect Their Transfer Behaviour?

Summary This paper investigates to what extent the return behaviour of migrants affects their transfer decisions, both at the extensive and intensive margins. We use a unique data set collected on migrants aged 45-70 living in France, with detailed information on both return intentions at retirement and on private transfers. We find that the temporary nature of migration strongly influences the pattern of transfers made by migrants. The probability of remitting for either personal savings or to family members in the origin country increases by more than 10 percentage points with return plans, the latter having no effect on gifts to family members living in France. At the intensive margin, the amount of personal savings sent to the origin country is about twice as high for migrants who intend to return.