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The Effects of International Migration on Migrant-Source Households: Evidence from Ethiopian Diversity-Visa Lottery Migrants

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  • Mergo, Teferi

Abstract

About a million people have migrated to the US via the Diversity Visa (“DV”) lottery. The DV was instituted by an Act of the United States Congress to diversify the U.S. population through a lottery made available to people from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the country. In any given year, the probability of winning the lottery is less than 1%, with millions of people from around the world competing for a maximum of 55,000 immigrant visas that can be obtained through this migration channel. Using Ethiopian DV participants, which have consistently made up between 6% and 8% of all DV immigrants, I study the causal effects of emigration on the well-being of the migrant sending families. I infer that migration contributes positively to the welfare of the source families. Overall, migration increases consumer expenditure, but has no effect on savings and business ownership of the senders. The positive treatment effects do not diminish with duration of emigration. Migrant men contribute more to the increase in their families’ standard of living than their female counterparts do: while expenditure on food and energy are invariant to the migrants’ gender, the gains in terms of durable ownership, access to clean water, and sanitation facilities occur almost entirely in families where the emigrants are men. I find that DV participants are favorably selected relative to the overall population.

Suggested Citation

  • Mergo, Teferi, 2016. "The Effects of International Migration on Migrant-Source Households: Evidence from Ethiopian Diversity-Visa Lottery Migrants," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 69-81.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:84:y:2016:i:c:p:69-81
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2016.04.001
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Michael A. Clemens & Hannah M. Postel, 2018. "Deterring Emigration with Foreign Aid: An Overview of Evidence from Low‐Income Countries," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 44(4), pages 667-693, December.
    2. Misgina Asmelash Redehegn & Dingqiang Sun & Aseres Mamo Eshete & Castro N Gichuki, 2019. "Development impacts of migration and remittances on migrant-sending communities: Evidence from Ethiopia," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(2), pages 1-20, February.
    3. Marko Gregl Klavdij Logožar, 2017. "The Impact of Development Aid on the International Migrations in the African, Caribbean, and Pacific Group of States," Zagreb International Review of Economics and Business, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb, vol. 20(1), pages 101-112, May.
    4. R. Isil Yavuz & Berrak Bahadir, 2022. "Remittances, ethnic diversity, and entrepreneurship in developing countries," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(4), pages 1931-1952, April.
    5. Yao, Becatien & Shanoyan, Aleksan & Schwab, Ben & Amanor-Boadu, Vincent, 2023. "The role of mobile money in household resilience: Evidence from Kenya," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    6. Buechel, Berno & Gangl, Selina & Huber, Martin, 2023. "How residence permits affect the labor market attachment of foreign workers: Evidence from a migration lottery in Liechtenstein," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    7. Abebaw, Degnet & Admassie, Assefa & Kassa, Habtemariam & Padoch, Christine, 2020. "Can rural outmigration improve household food security? Empirical evidence from Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    8. Bose-Duker, Theophiline & Henry, Michael & Strobl, Eric, 2021. "Child fostering and the educational outcomes of Jamaican children," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    9. Mengistu Dessalegn & Liza Debevec & Alan Nicol & Eva Ludi, 2023. "A Critical Examination of Rural Out-Migration Studies in Ethiopia: Considering Impacts on Agriculture in the Sending Communities," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-16, January.
    10. de Brauw, Alan & Kramer, Berber & Murphy, Mike, 2021. "Migration, labor and women’s empowerment: Evidence from an agricultural value chain in Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).

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