Using a 2006 household survey in Mali, we compare current poverty rates and inequality levels
with counterfactual ones in the absence of migration and remittances. With proper hypotheses
on migrants and a selection model, we are able to impute a counterfactual income for
households currently receiving remittances. We show that remittances reduce poverty rates by
5% to 11% and the Gini coefficient by about 5%. Households in the bottom quintiles are more
dependent on remittances, which are less substitutable by additional workforce.