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Migration and technological change in rural households: complements or substitutes?

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Author Info
Mariapia MENDOLA ()

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Abstract

In this paper we study the interrelationship between determinants of migration, conceived as a family strategy, and the potential impact of having a migrant household member on people left behind. Labour migration is often related to poverty but given its lumpy-investment nature, poverty may constitute a motivation to migrate as well as a constraint to do it. We use cross-sectional household data from two rural regions of Bangladesh to test whether migration is a form of income diversification strategy that significantly influences the risk-taking behaviour of source farm households in agricultural activities. We account for heterogeneity of migration constraints differentiating between domestic (temporary and permanent) and international moving destinations. We find that richer and large-holder households are more likely to participate in costly high-return migration (i.e. international migration) and employ modern technologies, thereby achieving higher productivity. Poorer households, on the other hand, are not able to overcome entry costs of moving abroad and fall back on migration with low entry costs, and low returns (i.e. domestic migration); the latter does not help them to achieve production enhancements and may act as a poverty-trap locking households into persistent poverty.

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Paper provided by Department of Economics University of Milan Italy in its series Departemental Working Papers with number 2005-15.

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Date of creation: 01 Jan 2005
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Handle: RePEc:mil:wpdepa:2005-15

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Related research
Keywords: Internal and International Migration; Farm Household Behaviour; Agricultural Production Choices.;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
O12 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
Q12 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
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  2. Mariapia MENDOLA, 2005. "Agricultural technology and poverty reduction: a micro-level analysis of causal effects," Departemental Working Papers 2005-14, Department of Economics University of Milan Italy. [Downloadable!]
  3. Newey, Whitney K., 1987. "Efficient estimation of limited dependent variable models with endogenous explanatory variables," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 231-250, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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    Other versions:
  5. Eswaran, Mukesh & Kotwal, Ashok, 1989. "Credit as insurance in agrarian economies," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 37-53, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Dercon, Stefan, 1996. "Risk, Crop Choice, and Savings: Evidence from Tanzania," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 44(3), pages 485-513, April.
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  7. Kuhn, R.S., 2000. "The Logic of Letting Go: Family and Individual Migration from Rural Bangladesh," Papers 00-09, RAND - Labor and Population Program.
  8. Eswaran, Mukesh & Kotwal, Ashok, 1986. "Access to Capital and Agrarian Production Organisation," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 96(382), pages 482-98, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Heckman, James J, 1978. "Dummy Endogenous Variables in a Simultaneous Equation System," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(4), pages 931-59, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Cox, Donald & Eser, Zekeriya & Jimenez, Emmanuel, 1998. "Motives for private transfers over the life cycle: An analytical framework and evidence for Peru," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 57-80, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Angrist, Joshua D, 2001. "Estimations of Limited Dependent Variable Models with Dummy Endogenous Regressors: Simple Strategies for Empirical Practice," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 19(1), pages 2-16, January.
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  12. Banerjee, Abhijit V & Newman, Andrew F, 1993. "Occupational Choice and the Process of Development," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(2), pages 274-98, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. Dr. Peter Kenning & Hilke Plassmann, 2004. "NeuroEconomics," Experimental 0412005, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
  14. Randall S. Kuhn, 2000. "The Logic of Letting Go: Family and Individual Migration from Rural Bangladesh," Working Papers 00-09, RAND Corporation Publications Department. [Downloadable!]
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  16. Morduch, J., 1995. "Poverty and Vulnerability," Papers 477, Harvard - Institute for International Development.
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Francesca Marchetta, 2008. "Migration and non farm activities as income diversification strategies: the case of Northern Ghana," Working Papers Series wp2008_16.rdf, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche. [Downloadable!]
  2. Mariapia MENDOLA, 2005. "Farm households production theories: a review of institutional and behavioural responses," Departemental Working Papers 2005-01, Department of Economics University of Milan Italy. [Downloadable!]
  3. Mendola, Mariapia & Carletto, Gero, 2009. "International migration and gender differentials in the home labor market : evidence from Albania," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4900, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Nancy McCarthy & Gero Carletto & Benjamin Davis & Irini Maltsoglou, 2006. "Assessing the Impact of Massive Out-Migration on Agriculture," Working Papers 06-14, Agricultural and Development Economics Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO - ESA). [Downloadable!]
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