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Does migration raise agricultural investment? An empirical analysis for rural Mexico

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  • Marcus H. Böhme

Abstract

The effect of remittances on capital accumulation remains a contested topic. This article uses a panel data set from rural Mexico to investigate the impact of remittances on agriculture and livestock investments. After controlling for the endogeneity of migration through an instrumental variable estimation our empirical results show that international migration has a significantly positive effect on the accumulated agricultural assets but not on livestock capital. This suggests that households use the capital obtained from international migration only to overcome liquidity constraints for subsistence production whereas migration itself seems to be the superior investment option compared to other productive activities such as livestock husbandry.

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  • Marcus H. Böhme, 2015. "Does migration raise agricultural investment? An empirical analysis for rural Mexico," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 46(2), pages 211-225, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:agecon:v:46:y:2015:i:2:p:211-225
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    3. Ubaid Ali & Mazhar Mughal & Lionel de Boisdeffre, 2023. "Migrant remittances, agriculture investment and cropping patterns," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(3), pages 899-920, September.
    4. Apsara KARKI NEPAL & Mani NEPAL & Randall BLUFFSTONE, 2023. "International labour migration, farmland fallowing, livelihood diversification and technology adoption in Nepal," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 162(4), pages 687-713, December.
    5. Wanglin Ma & Awudu Abdulai, 2017. "The economic impacts of agricultural cooperatives on smallholder farmers in rural China," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(4), pages 537-551, September.
    6. Chinedu Obi & Fabio Bartolini & Marijke D’Haese, 2020. "International migration, remittance and food security during food crises: the case study of Nigeria," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 12(1), pages 207-220, February.
    7. Piras, Simone & Vittuari, Matteo & Möllers, Judith & Herzfeld, Thomas, 2018. "Remittance inflow and smallholder farming practices: The case of Moldova," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 70, pages 654-665.
    8. Zhipeng Huang & Yan Zhang & Yi Huang & Gang Xu & Shengping Shang, 2022. "Sales Scale, Non-Pastoral Employment and Herders’ Technology Adoption: Evidence from Pastoral China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-13, July.
    9. Bierkamp, Sina & Nguyen, Trung Thanh & Grote, Ulrike, 2021. "Environmental income and remittances: Evidence from rural central highlands of Vietnam," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    10. Mullally, C., 2018. "Migration and economic activity among origin households: the role of female household headship," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 276993, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    11. Mack, Elizabeth A. & Sauls, Laura Aileen & Jokisch, Brad D. & Nolte, Kerstin & Schmook, Birgit & He, Yifan & Radel, Claudia & Allington, Ginger R.H. & Kelley, Lisa C. & Scott, Christian Kelly & Leisz,, 2023. "Remittances and land change: A systematic review," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
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    JEL classification:

    • D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior
    • J6 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers
    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development

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