Migration and Remittances from Central Texas to Mexico: Factors Shaping the Activation of Financial Services

Jennifer J. Tovar, University of Texas at Austin
Felipe Gonzalez Ortiz, Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia
Peter Ward, University of Texas at Austin

In order to understand the relative demand and take-up of an ATM card provided by certain banks on non-interested bearing accounts that could be opened with minimal documentation , a study was conducted in Austin, TX with Mexican nationals who sent money to Mexico on a regular basis. The design allows further investigation into some of the indicators identified in the model proposed by Russell (1986) and Lozano (1993) of the determinants involved in choosing to use informal or formal systems to remit money to Mexico. Factors that seem have the strongest relationships with type of system used are region of country to which the remittance is being sent and who receives the remittance in Mexico. Analysis did not show significant chi-squared relationships in this study with informal or formal network choice and age, status of migrant, frequency of trips, type of work employed as in the United States, level of education, or amount sent each time.