Collective Remittances and the State: The 3×1 Program in Mexican Municipalities ∗

SummaryThe Mexican 3×1 Program for Migrants is a grant scheme whereby the municipal, state, and federal governments match by 3 to 1 the funds that migrant clubs send to their hometowns to finance public projects. Using municipal-level data on Program participation for the period 2002–07, we evaluate both the economic bias and the political bias of the Program. Since migration and poverty have a nonlinear relationship, we find that poorer municipalities are less likely to participate than those with medium poverty levels. We also find that the Program rewards PAN strongholds rather than competitive municipalities.