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Seasonal Poverty and Seasonal Migration in Asia

Author

Listed:
  • Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak

    (Professor, Yale University, United States and Deakin University, Australia.)

  • Maira Emy Reimão

    (Assistant Professor, University of Florida. E-mail:)

Abstract

Four in five poor people in the Asia and Pacific region live in rural areas. Crop cycles in agrarian areas create periods of seasonal deprivation, or preharvest “lean seasons,†when work is scarce and skipped meals become frequent. In this paper, we document this phenomenon of seasonal poverty and discuss existing formal mechanisms for coping with it. We then focus on seasonal migration from rural to urban areas as a potential coping strategy and review the evidence on the effects of encouraging seasonal migration through transport subsidies. Over the past 10 years, we have conducted a series of randomized control trials in Bangladesh and Indonesia that provided rural agricultural workers with small migration subsidies to pay for the cost of round-trip travel to nearby areas in search of work. This paper summarizes the lessons learned from this multicountry, multiyear series of seasonal migration trials, the implications of these results for spatial misallocation, urbanization, and growth, and the replicability and relevance of this and other policies encouraging domestic migration more broadly for other areas in the Asia and Pacific region.

Suggested Citation

  • Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak & Maira Emy Reimão, 2020. "Seasonal Poverty and Seasonal Migration in Asia," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 37(1), pages 1-42, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:adbadr:v:37:y:2020:i:1:p:1-42
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    File URL: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/adev_a_00139
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Attila N Lázár & Helen Adams & W Neil Adger & Robert J Nicholls, 2020. "Modelling household well-being and poverty trajectories: An application to coastal Bangladesh," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(9), pages 1-23, September.
    2. Mobarak, Ahmed Mushfiq & Sharif, Iffath & Shrestha, Maheshwor, 2021. "Returns to International Migration: Evidence from a Bangladesh-Malaysia Visa Lottery," IZA Discussion Papers 14232, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Davis, C. Austin & Mobarak, Ahmed Mushfiq, 2020. "The challenges of scaling effective interventions: A path forward for research and policy," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Asia; Bangladesh; migration; seasonal poverty; seasonality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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