Do migrants send remittances as a way of self-insurance?

How do risk preferences affect migrant remittance behaviour? Examination of this relationship has only begun to be explored. Using a tailored representative survey of 1,354 immigrants in the Greater Dublin Area, Ireland, we find a positive and significant relationship between risk aversion and migrant remittances. Risk-averse individuals are more likely to send remittances home and are, on average, likely to remit a higher amount, after controlling for a broad range of individual and group characteristics. The evidence we obtain, that more remittances are sent by riskaverse immigrants who face higher wage risks and to individuals with more financial resources, is consistent with self-insurance although we cannot, with our data, rule out other exchange motives.