The Remittances Behaviour of the Second Generation in Europe: Altruism or Self-Interest?

Whereas most research on remittances focuses on first-generation immigrants, the aim of this paper is to investigate the remitting behaviour of the host country-born children of immigrants —the second generation— in various European cities. Some important studies (Leichtman 2005; Levitt 2001, 2002) found that immigrant transnationalism is not only a phenomenon for the first generation, but also apply to the second and higher generations, through, among other things, family visits, elder care, and remittances (Baldassar et al. 2007; Zontini 2007). At the same time, the maintenance of a strong ethnic identity in the ‘host’ society does not necessarily mean that second-generation migrants have strong transnational ties to their ‘home’ country (Vickerman 2002). The data used in this paper is from “The Integration of the European Second Generation” (TIES) project. The survey collected information on approximately 6,250 individuals aged 18-35 with at least one immigrant parent from Morocco, Turkey or former Yugoslavia, in 15 European cities, regrouped in 8 ‘countries’ (see the project’s website, www.tiesproject.eu, for more detailed information). For the purpose of this paper, only analyses for Austria (Linz and Vienna); Switzerland (Basle and Zurich); Germany (Berlin and Frankfurt); France (Paris and Strasbourg); the Netherlands (Amsterdam and Rotterdam); and Sweden (Stockholm) will be presented.