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Work-Related Migration and Poverty Reduction in Nepal

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  • Michael Lokshin
  • Mikhail Bontch-Osmolovski
  • Elena Glinskaya

Abstract

Using two rounds of nationally representative household survey data in this study, we measure the impact on poverty in Nepal of local and international migration for work. We apply an instrumental variables approach to deal with nonrandom selection of migrants and simulate various scenarios for the different levels of migration comparing observed and counterfactual household expenditure distribution. Our results indicate that one-fifth of the poverty reduction in Nepal occurring between 1995 and 2004 can be attributed to higher levels of work-related migration and remittances sent home. We also show that while the increase in international work-related migration was the leading cause of this poverty reduction, domestic migration also played an important role. Our findings demonstrate that strategies for economic growth and poverty reduction in Nepal should consider aspects of the dynamics of domestic and international migration. Copyright � 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

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File URL: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9361.2010.00555.x
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Article provided by Wiley Blackwell in its journal Review of Development Economics.

Volume (Year): 14 (2010)
Issue (Month): 2 (05)
Pages: 323-332

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Handle: RePEc:bla:rdevec:v:14:y:2010:i:2:p:323-332
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Cited by:

  1. Adams, Richard H. & Cuecuecha, Alfredo, 2013. "The Impact of Remittances on Investment and Poverty in Ghana," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 24-40.
  2. Adams Jr., Richard H. & Cuecuecha, Alfredo, 2010. "Remittances, Household Expenditure and Investment in Guatemala," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(11), pages 1626-1641, November.
  3. Carletto, Calogero & Larrison, Jennica & Ozden, Caglar, 2014. "Informing migration policies : a data primer," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7082, The World Bank.
  4. Simone BERTOLI & Francesca Marchetta, 2014. "Migration, remittances and poverty in Ecuador," Working Papers halshs-00964332, HAL.
  5. Adams, Richard H., Jr. & Cuecuecha, Alfredo & Page, John, 2008. "The impact of remittances on poverty and inequality in Ghana," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4732, The World Bank.
  6. Chakra P. Acharya & Roberto Leon-Gonzalez, 2012. "The Impact of Remittance on Poverty and Inequality: A Micro-Simulation Study for Nepal," GRIPS Discussion Papers 11-26, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.
  7. Aniceto C. Orbeta Jr, 2008. "Economic Impact of International Migration and Remittances on Philippine Households : What We Thought We Knew, What We Need to Know," Development Economics Working Papers 22673, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
  8. Tiwari, Sailesh & Bhattarai, Keshav, 2011. "Migration, remittances and forests : disentangling the impact of population and economic growth on forests," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5907, The World Bank.
  9. Lokshin, Michael & Glinskaya, Elena, 2008. "The effect of male migration for work on employment patterns of females in nepal," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4757, The World Bank.
  10. Botezat, Alina & Pfeiffer, Friedhelm, 2014. "The Impact of Parents Migration on the Well-being of Children Left Behind: Initial Evidence from Romania," IZA Discussion Papers 8225, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  11. Quentin Wodon & Andrea Liverani & George Joseph & Nathalie Bougnoux, 2014. "Climate Change and Migration : Evidence from the Middle East and North Africa," World Bank Publications, The World Bank, number 18929.
  12. Carletto, Calogero & Larrison, Jennica & Ozden, Caglar, 2014. "Informing Migration Policies: A Data Primer," IZA Discussion Papers 8745, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).

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