IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v132y2015icp278-286.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The mixed effects of migration: Community-level migration and birthweight in Mexico

Author

Listed:
  • Hamilton, Erin R.
  • Choi, Kate H.

Abstract

Research on the relationship between migration and infant health in Mexico finds that migration has mixed impacts on the risk of low birthweight (LBW). Whereas the departure and absence of household and community members are harmful, remittances are beneficial. We extend this work by considering a different measure of infant health in addition to LBW: macrosomia (i.e., heavy birthweight), which is associated with infant, child, and maternal morbidities but has a different social risk profile from LBW. We link the 2008 and 2009 Mexican birth certificates with community data from the 2000 Mexican census to analyze the association between various dimensions of community-level migration (i.e., rates of out-migration, receipt of remittances, and return migration) and the risk of LBW and macrosomia. We examine this association using two sets of models which differ in the extent to which they account for endogeneity. We find that the health impacts of migration differ depending not only on the dimension of migration, but also on the measure of health, and that they are robust to potential sources of endogeneity. Whereas community remittances and return migration are associated with lower risk of LBW, they are associated with increased risk of macrosomia. By contrast, out-migration is associated with increased risk of LBW and lower risk of macrosomia. Our analysis of endogeneity suggests that bias resulting from unmeasured differences between communities with different levels of migration may result in an underestimate of the impacts of community migration on birthweight.

Suggested Citation

  • Hamilton, Erin R. & Choi, Kate H., 2015. "The mixed effects of migration: Community-level migration and birthweight in Mexico," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 278-286.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:132:y:2015:i:c:p:278-286
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.08.031
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953614005577
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.08.031?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Van Hook, Jennifer & Baker, Elizabeth & Altman, Claire E. & Frisco, Michelle L., 2012. "Canaries in a coalmine: Immigration and overweight among Mexican-origin children in the US and Mexico," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 125-134.
    2. Stock, James H & Wright, Jonathan H & Yogo, Motohiro, 2002. "A Survey of Weak Instruments and Weak Identification in Generalized Method of Moments," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 20(4), pages 518-529, October.
    3. David J. McKenzie & Nicole Hildebrandt, 2005. "The Effects of Migration on Child Health in Mexico," Economía Journal, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association - LACEA, vol. 0(Fall 2005), pages 257-289, August.
    4. Buescher, P.A. & Taylor, K.P. & Davis, M.H. & Bowling, J.M., 1993. "The quality of the new birth certificate data: A validation study in North Carolina," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 83(8), pages 1163-1165.
    5. Heather Antecol & Kelly Bedard, 2006. "Unhealthy assimilation: Why do immigrants converge to American health status levels?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 43(2), pages 337-360, May.
    6. Shawn Kanaiaupuni & Katharine Donato, 1999. "Migradollars and mortality: The effects of migration on infant survival in Mexico," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 36(3), pages 339-353, August.
    7. Erin Hamilton & Andrés Villarreal & Robert Hummer, 2009. "Mother’s, Household, and Community U.S. Migration Experience and Infant Mortality in Rural and Urban Mexico," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 28(2), pages 123-142, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lei Lei & Sonalde Desai & Feinian Chen, 2020. "Fathers' migration and nutritional status of children in India: Do the effects vary by community context?," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 43(20), pages 545-580.
    2. Rabia Arif & Theresa Thompson Chaudhry & Azam Amjad Chaudhry, 2023. "Emigration’s Heterogeneous Impact on Children’s Wellbeing in Punjab, Pakistan," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 16(3), pages 1251-1295, June.
    3. Hector Cebolla-Boado & Leire Salazar, 2016. "Differences in perinatal health between immigrant and native-origin children: Evidence from differentials in birth weight in Spain," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 35(7), pages 167-200.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Agadjanian, Victor & Hayford, Sarah R. & Jansen, Natalie A., 2021. "Men's migration and women's mortality in rural Mozambique," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).
    2. Alassane DRABO & Christian EBEKE, 2010. "Remittances, Public Health Spending and Foreign Aid in the Access to Health Care Services in Developing Countries," Working Papers 201004, CERDI.
    3. Ogunniyi, Adebayo Isaiah & Mavrotas, George & Olagunju, Kehinde Oluseyi & Fadare, Olusegun & Adedoyin, Rufai, 2020. "Governance quality, remittances and their implications for food and nutrition security in Sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    4. Lucia Rizzica, 2018. "When the Cat’s Away The Effects of Spousal Migration on Investments on Children," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 32(1), pages 85-108.
    5. Lisa Chauvet & Flore Gubert & Sandrine Mesplé-Somps, 2009. "Are Remittances More Effective Than Aid To Reduce Child Mortality ? An Empirical Assessment using Inter and Intra-Country Data," Working Papers halshs-00966367, HAL.
    6. Bettin, Giulia & Sacchi, Agnese, 2020. "Health spending in Italy: The impact of immigrants," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    7. Wubin Xie & John Sandberg & Elanah Uretsky & Yuantao Hao & Cheng Huang, 2022. "Parental Migration and Children’s Early Childhood Development: A Prospective Cohort Study of Chinese Children," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(1), pages 29-58, February.
    8. Mozumder, Lavlu & Islam, Mohammad Amirul, 2017. "Effects Of Remittances On Human Capital Development: An Empirical Analysis," Bangladesh Journal of Agricultural Economics, Bangladesh Agricultural University, vol. 36(1-2), April.
    9. Mansuri, Ghazala, 2006. "Migration,sex bias, and child growth in rural Pakistan," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3946, The World Bank.
    10. Claire E. Altman & Jennifer Van Hook & Jonathan Gonzalez, 2017. "Becoming Overweight without Gaining a Pound: Weight Evaluations and the Social Integration of Mexicans in the United States," International Migration Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(1), pages 3-36, March.
    11. Marianna Battaglia, 2015. "Migration, health knowledge and teenage fertility: evidence from Mexico," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 6(2), pages 179-206, June.
    12. Paulone, Sara & Ivlevs, Artjoms, 2019. "Emigration and alcohol consumption among migrant household members staying behind: Evidence from Kyrgyzstan," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 221(C), pages 40-48.
    13. Schmeer, Kammi K., 2013. "Family structure and child anemia in Mexico," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 16-23.
    14. Yuying Tong & Weixiang Luo & Martin Piotrowski, 2015. "The Association Between Parental Migration and Childhood Illness in Rural China," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 31(5), pages 561-586, December.
    15. Anzoategui, Diego & Demirgüç-Kunt, Asli & Martínez Pería, María Soledad, 2014. "Remittances and Financial Inclusion: Evidence from El Salvador," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 338-349.
    16. Ambrosius, Christian, 2012. "Are remittances a substitute for credit? Carrying the financial burden of health shocks in national and transnational households," Discussion Papers 2012/9, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.
    17. Ulrich Nguemdjo & Bruno Ventelou, 2020. "How do migrations affect under-five mortality in rural areas? Evidence from Niakhar, Senegal," Working Papers halshs-03078776, HAL.
    18. Qian Guo & Wenkai Sun & Yijie Wang, 2017. "Effect of Parental Migration on Children's Health in Rural China," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(4), pages 1132-1157, November.
    19. Kalaj, Ermira Hoxha, 2014. "Are remittances spent in a healthy way? Evidence from Albania," SEER Journal for Labour and Social Affairs in Eastern Europe, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 17(2), pages 237-266.
    20. Mora Rivera, José Jorge. & Arellano-González, Jesús., 2012. "Migration and Remittances Effects on Consumption of the Poorest : the Mexican Case," Panorama Económico, Escuela Superior de Economía, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, vol. 0(14), pages 121-163, primer se.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:132:y:2015:i:c:p:278-286. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.