How has internal migration in Albania affected the receipt of transfers from family and friends?

Abstract

Social networks of family and friends are very important in providing economic and social support to households. The massive internal migration flows towards the big cities in the transition countries like Albania can seriously affect such networks, and influence the support received. Previous migration studies have analysed mostly the transfers between the migrant and the family left behind. This study analyses households that migrate together to the peripheries of Tirana (Albania) after the fall of the communist regime. The frequencies of transfers received before and after migration are used to test the change in the composition of transfers and the substitution of family members by friends after migrating. The empirical analysis shows that households receive fewer transfers after migration, but financial transfers increase. Friends become increasingly more important after migration, substituting for transfers from siblings and more distant family relatives