Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

Recorded remittances to Africa have grown dramatically over the past decade. Yet data limitations still mean relatively little is known about which migrants remit, how much they remit, and how their remitting behavior varies with gender, education, income levels, and duration abroad. This paper constructs the most comprehensive remittance database on immigrants in the OECD currently available, containing microdata on more than 12,000 African immigrants. Using this microdata the authors establish several basic facts about the remitting patterns of Africans, and then explore how key characteristics of policy interest relate to remittance behavior. Africans are found to remit twice as much on average as migrants from other developing countries, and those from poorer African countries are more likely to remit than those from richer African countries. Male migrants remit more than female migrants, particularly among those with a spouse remaining in the home country; more-educated migrants remit more than less educated migrants; and although the amount remitted increases with income earned, the gradient is quite flat over a large range of income. Finally, there is little evidence that the amount remitted decays with time spent abroad, with reductions in the likelihood of remitting offset by increases in the amount remitted conditional on remitting.

Brain drain --- Consequences of migration --- Debt Markets --- Developing countries --- Educated migrants --- Female migrants --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Gender --- Gender and Development --- Gross National Income --- Health --- Home countries --- Immigrants --- International Economics and Trade --- International Migration --- International policy --- Labor force --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Migrant --- Migrants --- Migration flows --- Nutrition and Population --- Policy Research --- Policy Research Working Paper --- Population Policies --- Progress --- Remittance --- Remittances --- Respect --- Spouse

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

Two of the most salient trends surrounding the issue of migration and development over the past two decades are the large rise in remittances, and an increased flow of skilled migration. However, recent literature based on cross-country regressions has claimed that more educated migrants remit less, leading to concerns that further increases in skilled migration will hamper remittance growth. This paper revisits the relationship between education and remitting behavior using microdata from surveys of immigrants in 11 major destination countries. The data show a mixed pattern between education and the likelihood of remitting, and a strong positive relationship between education and the amount remitted conditional on remitting. Combining these intensive and extensive margins gives an overall positive effect of education on the amount remitted. The microdata then allow investigation as to why the more educated remit more. The analysis finds that the higher income earned by migrants, rather than characteristics of their family situations, explains much of the higher remittances.

Brain Drain --- Consequences of migration --- Developing countries --- Educated Migrants --- Family members --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Health, Nutrition and Population --- Illegal migrants --- Immigrant --- Immigrants --- Immigration --- Immigration policies --- Impact of education --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Migration --- Policy Research --- Population Policies --- Progress --- Remittance --- Remittances --- Skill level --- Skilled migrants --- Social Development --- Tertiary education

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

The decision of whether or not to migrate has far-reaching consequences for the lives of individuals and their families. But the very nature of this choice makes identifying the impacts of migration difficult, since it is hard to measure a credible counterfactual of what the person and their household would have been doing had migration not occurred. Migration experiments provide a clear and credible way for identifying this counterfactual, and thereby allowing causal estimation of the impacts of migration. The authors provide an overview and critical review of the three strands of this approach: policy experiments, natural experiments, and researcher-led field experiments. The purpose is to introduce readers to the need for this approach, give examples of where it has been applied in practice, and draw out lessons for future work in this area.

Access to Finance --- Anthropology --- Consequences of migration --- Culture and Development --- Debt Markets --- Family members --- Family ties --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Health, Nutrition and Population --- Immigration --- Impact of migration --- Job opportunities --- Labor supply --- Language proficiency --- Lives of individuals --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Mental health --- Migrant --- Migrants --- Migration --- Policy research --- Policy research working paper --- Population Policies --- Progress --- Remittance --- Remittances --- Return migration --- Sex

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

The impacts of international emigration and remittances on incomes and poverty in sending areas are increasingly studied with household survey data. But comparing households with and without emigrants is complicated by a triple-selectivity problem: first, households self-select into emigration; second, in some emigrant households everyone moves while others leave members behind; and third, some emigrants choose to return to the origin country. Allowing for duration-dependent heterogeneity introduces a fourth form of selectivity - one must now worry not just about whether households migrate, but also when they do so. This paper clearly sets out these selectivity issues and their implications for existing migration studies, and then addresses them by using survey data designed specifically to take advantage of a randomized lottery that determines which applicants to the over-subscribed Samoan Quota may immigrate to New Zealand. The analysis compares incomes and poverty rates among left behind members in households in Samoa that sent Samoan Quota emigrants with those for members of similar households that were unsuccessful in the lottery. Policy rules control who can accompany the principal migrant, providing an instrument to address the second selectivity problem, while differences among migrants in which year their ballot was selected allow for estimation of duration effects. The authors find that migration reduced poverty among former household members, but they also find suggestive evidence that this effect may be short-lived as both remittances and agricultural income are negatively related to the duration that the migrant has been abroad.

Anthropology --- Citizenship --- Communities and Human Settlements --- Consequences of migration --- Culture and Development --- Health --- Household assets --- Household income --- Housing & Human Habitats --- Impact of migration --- International migration --- Labor force --- Labour force --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Mandates --- Migrant --- Migrants --- Migration --- Nutrition and Population --- Policy Research --- Policy Research Working Paper --- Population Policies --- Poverty Reduction --- Progress --- Public Policy --- Remittance --- Remittances --- Remittances from migrants --- Return migration --- Small Area Estimation Poverty Mapping

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

This paper explains how climate change may increase future migration, and which risks are associated with such migration. It also examines how some of this migration may enhance the capacity of communities to adapt to climate change. Climate change is likely to result in some increase above baseline rates of migration in the next 40 years. Most of this migration will occur within developing countries. There is little reason to think that such migration will increase the risk of violent conflict. Not all movements in response to climate change will have negative outcomes for the people that move, or the places they come from and go to. Migration, a proven development strategy, can increase the capacity of communities to adapt to climate change. The fewer choices people have about moving, however, the less likely it is that the outcomes of that movement will be positive. Involuntary resettlement should be a last resort. Many of the most dire risks arising from climate-motivated migration can be avoided through careful policy. Policy responses to minimize the risks associated with migration in response to climate change, and to maximize migration's contribution to adaptive capacity include: ensuring that migrants have the same rights and opportunities as host communities; reducing the costs of moving money and people between areas of origin and destination; facilitating mutual understanding among migrants and host communities; clarifying property rights where they are contested; ensuring that efforts to assist migrants include host communities; and strengthening regional and international emergency response systems.

Climate Change --- Climate Change Economics --- Climate Change Mitigation and Green House Gases --- Consequences of migration --- Developing countries --- Disasters --- Environment --- Environmental change --- Flows of people --- Health --- Health Monitoring & Evaluation --- International community --- International migration --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Migrants --- Migration --- Migration policies --- Number of people --- Nutrition and Population --- Policy brief --- Policy Research --- Policy Research Working Paper --- Population movements --- Population Policies --- Progress --- Social Development --- Sustainable development --- Urban migration --- Voluntary and Involuntary Resettlement --- Vulnerability