Migrant Households Research Articles

Snapshot Models of Undocumented Immigration

Accurately estimating the size of the undocumented immigrant population is a critical component of assessing the health and security risks of undocumented immigration to the United States. To provide one such estimate, we use data from the Mexican Migration Project (MMP), a study that includes samples of undocumented Mexican immigrants to the United States after their return to Mexico. Of particular interest are the departure and return dates of a sampled migrant's most recent sojourn in the United States, and the total number of such journeys undertaken by that migrant household, for these data enable the construction of data-driven undocumented immigration models. However, such data are subject to an extreme physical bias, for to be included in such a sample, a migrant must have returned to Mexico by the time of the survey, excluding those undocumented immigrants still in the United States. In our analysis, we account for this bias by jointly modeling trip timing and duration to produce the likelihood of observing the data in such a "snapshot" sample. Our analysis characterizes undocumented migration flows including single-visit migrants, repeat visitors, and "retirement" from circular migration. Starting with 1987, we apply our models to 30 annual random snapshot surveys of returned undocumented Mexican migrants accounting for undocumented Mexican migration from 1980 to 2016. Scaling to population quantities and supplementing our analysis of southern border crossings with estimates of visa overstays, we produce lower bounds on the total number of undocumented immigrants that are much larger than conventional estimates based on U.S.-based census-linked surveys, and broadly consistent with the more recent estimates reported by Fazel-Zarandi, Feinstein, and Kaplan.

Rural-urban migration with remittances and welfare analysis

Given the growing importance of rural-urban migration with remittances to rural development and urban income inequality, this paper proposes a theoretical model to investigate unskilled migration with remittances and the relevant welfare implications. Migrants remit part of their wage incomes to support their families of origin out of distinct motivations. The adequate explanation for this behavior may be “enlightened self-interest.” Alongside that, we introduce the mental cost of migration, which means that both migrants and remaining members suffer when migrants leave their families and generate the utility loss. We then construct a modified Melitz model with these ingredients to examine the urbanization process and corresponding welfare issues. The results show that when the remittance increases, it will enlarge the inequality between entrepreneurs and migrant workers. Moreover, when the trade cost is relatively small, the average utility level of migrant households is increasing in the remittance rate. Finally, we employ a numerical approach to simulate the optimal remittance rate and compare the results of different scenarios.

Impact of parental migration on children’s education and protection: evidence from Sri Lanka

International labour migration has been one of the key sources of employment generation and foreign exchange earnings for Sri Lanka since the early 1980s. A sizable share of the total migrants falls into the 25-44 age-group and their migration may have implications on education and protection of children left behind. This study aimed at examining the impact of parental migration on education and protection of children left behind by employing a mixed method of data analysis. This study collected quantitative data by administering questionnaire survey for a sample of randomly selected households. Key informant interviews and in-depth interviews were conducted to collect qualitative data. Both descriptive and regression analyses were employed in data analysis and the results obtained from above techniques were further enriched by in-cooperating insights from key informant interviews and in-depth interviews. Insights from the descriptive analysis, key informant interviews, and in-depth interviews highlighted some suggestive evidence that children in migrant households face difficulties with their school attendance and performance compared to children in non-migrant households. Our regression results failed to support above evidence that migration, in general, has an effect on educational achievement. Nevertheless, we found strong statistical evidence to suggest that educational performance is lower among the children whose mother has migrated. In other words, probability is high that children in mother migrant households perform poorly at test conducted at school-level. Similarly, it was found that left-behind children’s protection is under severe risks in mother migrant households where father and close relatives are relatively weak in capacities. In contrast, in father migrant households, adult children are under greater protection provided mother and close relatives are with higher capacities. Mothers involve through a number of ways to improve children’s educational achievement and protection, and her absence at home exposes children to a greater physical and physiological risks.

Risk Attitudes and Household Migration Decisions

This paper analyses the relation between individual migrations and the risk attitudes of other household members when migration is a household decision. We develop a simple model that implies that which members migrate depends on the distribution of risk attitudes among all household members, and that the risk diversification gain to other household members may induce migrations that would not take place in an individual framework. Using unique data for China on risk attitudes of internal (rural-urban) migrants and the families left behind, we empirically test three key implications of the model: (i) that conditional on migration gains, less risk averse individuals are more likely to migrate; (ii) that within households, the least risk averse individual is more likely to emigrate; and (iii) that across households, the most risk averse households are more likely to send migrants as long as they have at least one family member with sufficiently low risk aversion. Our results not only provide strong evidence that migration decisions are taken on a household level but also that the distribution of risk attitudes within the household affects whether a migration takes place and who will emigrate. JEL classification: J61, 015, R23, D81

Easy come, easy go? Economic shocks, labor migration and the family left behind

This article investigates the impact of negative income shocks in migrant destination countries around the world on the domestic and international labor migration decisions of their family members left behind at origin. Exploiting differences in labor market shocks across and within destinations during the Great Recession, I find large and heterogeneous effects on both types of migration decisions. Poor migrant households reduced domestic and increased international labor migration in response to the shock. Rich migrant households remained largely unaffected. I provide a theoretical framework, which rationalizes this heterogeneity by the relative magnitudes of income and substitution effects caused by the shock. The results imply a deterioration in the skill selection of aggregate international migrant flows as poor households had below average skill levels. New international migrants targeted the same destinations as established ones from the same household, providing evidence of strong kinship migration networks. Changes in migration also led to an increase in intimate partner cohabitation and fertility among poor families. The results show that domestic and foreign migration decisions are interrelated and jointly determine household outcomes.

Parental stress and children's school performance: Are locals doing better than rural‐to‐urban migrants in Beijing?

AbstractThis study provides the first empirical evidence on whether parental stress is associated with children's school performance (measured by academic performance and peer relations) for rural‐to‐urban migrants (n = 499) and local residents (n = 299) in Beijing, China. Results from regression analyses showed that children of local families systematically scored better than those of migrants on measures of school performance. Correlation between parental stress and academic performance was found among locals but not among migrant households. Further, although children's peer relations were negatively associated with parental stress among migrant families, the duration of their residence in Beijing did not moderate this association. This study probed the structural origins of stressors for migrant parents and discussed implications for community‐based social work services in urban China for migrant families.

Pattern and implications of labour migration on technical efficiency of farm households: A study in Bundelkhand region of central India

Labour migration and remittance influence resource use efficiency in agriculture. The present study evaluates the impact of labour migration on crop productivity and technical efficiency in the Bundelkhand region of central India. The study is based on a primary survey of 240 farm households, comprising 120 migrant and 120 non-migrant households during 2016-17.The average yield of selected crops was higher in non-migrant households than that of migrant households. However, there was no variation in the input use intensity between the two categories.Factors such as education, farming experience, and access to extension services significantly reduced technical inefficiency for migrant households.In addition to these factors, access to irrigation significantly reduced technical inefficiency for non-migrant households. Development of irrigation infrastructure and strengthening extension linkage can enhance crop productivity and check distress migration in the Bundelkhand region.

Migrant Remittance and Household Expenditure Pattern in Nigeria

This research work examined migrants’ remittance and household expenditure pattern in Nigeria. The study adopted survey research method. The quantitative study was utilized with the aid of questionnaire. The respondents were selected using convenient and random sampling techniques. Two hundred copies of questionnaires were administered on migrant households in the study area while one hundred and sixty-six questionnaires were returned. The data collected were analyzed through descriptive statistics, such as frequency tabulation and simple percentage compilation; hypotheses formulated were tested with the use of chi-square statistics. From the findings of the study and the tested hypotheses, it was discovered that there is a significant relationship among remittance, income, consumption expenditure and investments of households in Nigeria. The study therefore proffers some recommendations towards utilizing influx of remittance for households’ expenditure in Nigeria.

Parenting, Identity and Children’s Spirituality in Ethiopian Orthodox Migrant Households in South Africa

Parenting, Identity and Children’s Spirituality in Ethiopian Orthodox Migrant Households in South Africa

Identification of the Determinants of Rural Workforce Migration: A Study of Construction Segments in Udupi District, Karnataka, India

The article critically examines the migration process and the manner in which it affects the livelihood of migrants. Based on a survey in Udupi district of Karnataka, it identifies the status of migrant labourers in the construction sector. It presents evidence on labour market segmentation and the resulting unequal wage distribution between migrants in this segment. Migrants, at their destination, have poor living and working conditions, lack entitlements, have low level of consumption and endure hardship. Migrant households reported higher expenditure on food and non-food consumption and temporary residential housing. Children of migrants have limited access to education in the destination place. The article maps informal practices that violate the legal provisions for these work segments.

Migration and urban food accessibility in Mumbwa, a tertiary city of Zambia

ABSTRACT Urbanization is occurring across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), both from migration and natural growth, and often without urban planning, which can hamper the ability of households to obtain affordable, accessible food. Through stratified random sampling, we collected data from 135 households in Mumbwa, Zambia, to examine the relationship between migration and food accessibility in a small tertiary city. We investigate the relationship between socio-economic characteristics and food access of households that migrated or were more established in Mumbwa, and the spatial characteristics of food access. We find recent migrant households have significantly better food access than non-migrant households and those that migrated earlier. Results from a negative binomial regression suggest that recent migrant households tend to have better existing household wealth, labor assets, and smaller household size. Using spatial analysis we identify a cluster of households with lower food accessibility in an unplanned area of the city with limited basic services. We find non-migrant and migrant households in this cluster, which suggests informal settlements in this size city are settled by both household types alike. These results illustrate the challenge policymakers face in addressing urban food accessibility for all residents, due to the spatial, economic, and social heterogeneity of the phenomenon.

Does migration matter for household welfare in Bangladesh?

ABSTRACT This paper explores the impact of international migration on household welfare in Bangladesh based on the household income and expenditure survey 2010. An asset index was constructed to measure the long-run welfare impact of migration using principal component analysis. The findings of the study indicate that the households with a migrant member have a significantly higher asset score compared to the non-migrant. The migrant households also have a lower expenditure share on food and a higher calorie intake per capita suggesting they are less poor compared to non-migrants. Besides, the study found robust evidence that the families having a migrant in a lucrative destination are well-off than those with a migrant in a less desirable destination. The overall findings suggest that the welfare of the households not only depends on the households’ migration status but also their destination choices.

At What Costs? a Proposal for Estimating Migration Costs in the Bangladesh-Malaysia Corridor

This article provides a comprehensive proposal to figure out the full spectrum of costs borne by Bangladeshi workers on their journey to Malaysia. The article proposes to consider the differences based on skill level, employment sector, immigration status, gender, traveling routes as well as channels and funding sources in order to determine the true economic cost of migration. The article also proposes to take social cost of migration into account. It sheds light on the effects of migration on migrant households with a view to fully comprehend the overall migration cost scenario. Finally, the paper suggests to take into consideration the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on broader migration and repatriation context.

Exploring distancing among Sri Lankan migrants in New Zealand

People who migrate often experience complex inter-connections between their countries of origin and new host societies. This paper explores the ways in which Sri Lankan migrants living in New Zealand navigate distances (geographical, social and relational) between their country of origin (Sri Lanka) and new host nation (New Zealand). To explore such processes we engaged eight Sri Lankan migrant households through repeat interviews, which were enhanced by photo-elicitation, object-related methods, and go-along techniques. Drawing insights from the resulting empirical materials, we document how particular places, such as culturally-textured kitchens, can bridge distances between the two countries. Our analysis also documents how migrant negotiations of distance are dynamic, relational and determined by socio-cultural contexts.

Impact of migrartion in multi-dimensional aspects of Mithila region

It was observed that the efficiencies of human labour and irrigation in rice production were higher than non-migrant households and statistically significant, indicating rational use of these two critical inputs on migrant households in Mithila. The consequences of migration corroborates that neither the migrants themselves nor the areas of in-migration and out-migration remain the same, once a migration-current develops. The areas of cities are growing and the areas of villages are decreasing. The same trend we can see in metropolises as their area and population increasing day-by-day due to consequence of migration. All these measures will help arrest the migration inflow to metropolitan cities and bring about balanced urban development.

How does international migration impact on rural areas in developing countries? A systematic review

Abstract This study is a systematic review of literature on the impact of international migration on rural areas. We examined this impact on six rural welfare indicators, including labour, livelihood activities, income, food security, land use, and rural development. We selected 44 papers from a pool of 1544 articles published from 2007 to 2018. We found that the impact of international migration on selected indicators varies and are highly context-specific. The results point to the existence of heterogeneity in impacts, capable of creating a space of losers and winners among migrants and non-migrants households. The immediate impact is the loss labour effect, which leads to a process of feminisation of agriculture and the use of child labour. In the intermediate, this trend changes the power relationship in rural areas, briefly increasing the opportunities for the non-migrants household to control land. However, remittance helps the migrant household to move up in the income ladder, improving their food security, enabling the repurchase of land and causing a transition away from agriculture. We submit that international migration from developing countries could create a dynamic process of structural and functional transformations in rural areas, which may ultimately lead to a transition away from agriculture. We provide several policy implications and identified some research gaps for future studies.

The COVID-19, Migration and Livelihood in India: Challenges and Policy Issues

The worldwide spread of COVID-19 first reported from Wuhan in China is attributed to migration and mobility of people. In this article, we present how our understanding of migration and livelihood could be helpful in designing a mitigating strategy of the economic and social impact of COVID-19 in India. We conclude that there are many challenges migrants face during the spread of COVID-19 resulting from nation-wide lockdown. Many internal migrants faced problems such as lack of food, basic amenities, lack of health care, economic stress, lack of transportation facilities to return to their native places and lack of psychological support. On the other hand, COVID-19 has also brought into sharp focus the emigrants from India and the major migration corridors India shares with the world as well. There is huge uncertainty about how long this crisis will last. This article further provides some immediate measures and long term strategies to be adopted by the government such as improving public distribution system, strengthening the public health system, integration of migrants with development, decentralisation as a strategy to provide health services, and providing support to return migrants to reintegrate them, and also strengthen the database on migration and migrant households.

Heterogeneity of Internal Migrant Household Consumption in Host Cities: A Comparison of Skilled Migrants and Labor Migrants in China

Improvements in migrant families’ consumption are crucial to economic development after the economic crisis. With China’s participation in economic globalization, industrial transformation and college enrolment expansion, a new type of migrant worker has emerged, skilled migrants, who have attained a college diploma or above and whose consumption behaviors differ from traditional labor migrants because education helps to improve the income and consumption structure. This study uses comparative analysis and Tobit model to examine differences in income and consumption patterns, and determinants of consumption between skilled migrant and labor migrant households. Education helps to increase income and alter consumption behaviors. The income and consumption levels of skilled migrant households are significantly higher than the levels of labor migrant households, and the propensity to consume among skilled migrant households is higher than among labor migrant households. Moreover, the consumption structure of skilled migrant households is more advanced than that of labor migrant households. Education indirectly influences consumption by influencing economic, familial, individual, settlement intention, and social security factors. These factors have different effects on skilled migrant and labor migrant household consumption. Authorities should improve the education level and social welfare system to cover migrant households, especially for low-income labor migrants, to improve their consumption.

Impact of cash crop cultivation on household income and migration decisions: Evidence from low-income regions in China

This study examines the impact of cash crop cultivation on household income and migration decisions, using survey data collected from low-income regions in China. Given farmers decide themselves whether to cultivate cash crops, an endogenous treatment regression model that accounts for potential selection bias issue is used to analyze the data. The empirical results show that cash crop cultivation exerts a positive and statistically significant impact on household income, but it does not affect household migration decisions significantly. The disaggregated analyses reveal that cash crop cultivation significantly increases farm income but decreases off-farm income.

Does climatic risk induce labour migration? Evidence from Semi‐Arid Tropics region of India

The paper aims to focus on climatic risk as a potential determinant of temporary labour migration in Semi‐Arid Tropics (SAT) village in India for the year 2013–2014. Specifically, we address the question of how households use temporary labour migration as a coping mechanism to minimise the risk posed by climate variables such as drought, floods, cyclone etc. In doing so, the paper uses a binary choice model (logistic regression) to examine the potential socioeconomic and demographic factors along with climatic risk that determine the probability of migration of workers in select Indian semi‐arid villages. The paper uses data from International Crops Research Institute for the Semi‐Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). The results show that among all climatic risk anomalies, maximum households in SAT villages are affected by drought risk. It is accounted that 69% of households are influenced by the drought risk. With respect to compensation of climatic risk, around 17% of non‐migrant households received government support, while only 9% of migrant households received such assistance in this study. Also, the logistic regression models predict that the probability of household having any temporary migrants is significantly determined by climatic risk along with other demographic and socio‐economic factors. To the best of the authors' knowledge, perhaps this is the first paper that makes a direct approach of linking climatic risk with temporary labour migration in semi‐arid tropics region of India.