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Migration, Remittances and Human Capital Investment in Kenya

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  • Hines, Annie Laurie

    (University of California, Davis)

  • Simpson, Nicole B.

    (Colgate University)

Abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between international migration, remittances and human capital investment in Kenya. We use household level data from the 2009 Kenya Migration Household Survey (produced by the Africa Migration Project) to test our hypothesis and uncover a positive and significant relationship between the amount of international remittances a household receives and the amount of expenditures allocated to education (for all levels of education). We consider various robustness checks and find that our results hold up to various specifications, including an instrumental variable approach.

Suggested Citation

  • Hines, Annie Laurie & Simpson, Nicole B., 2018. "Migration, Remittances and Human Capital Investment in Kenya," IZA Discussion Papers 11835, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11835
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. William F. Blankenau & Nicole B. Simpson & Marc Tomljanovich, 2007. "Public Education Expenditures, Taxation, and Growth: Linking Data to Theory," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(2), pages 393-397, May.
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    5. World Bank, 2010. "Kenya Economic Update, December 2010," World Bank Publications - Reports 27776, The World Bank Group.
    6. Jean-Paul Azam & Flore Gubert, 2006. "Migrants' Remittances and the Household in Africa: A Review of Evidence," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 15(2), pages 426-462, December.
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    10. Tessa Bold & Mwangi Kimenyi & Germano Mwabu & Justin Sandefur, 2015. "Can Free Provision Reduce Demand for Public Services? Evidence from Kenyan Education," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 29(2), pages 293-326.
    11. Alcaraz, Carlo & Chiquiar, Daniel & Salcedo, Alejandrina, 2012. "Remittances, schooling, and child labor in Mexico," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(1), pages 156-165.
    12. repec:dau:papers:123456789/5126 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Adams Jr., Richard H. & Cuecuecha, Alfredo, 2010. "Remittances, Household Expenditure and Investment in Guatemala," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(11), pages 1626-1641, November.
    14. 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.
    15. Lucas, Robert E B & Stark, Oded, 1985. "Motivations to Remit: Evidence from Botswana," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 93(5), pages 901-918, October.
    16. José R. Bucheli & Alok K. Bohara & Matías Fontenla, 2018. "Mixed effects of remittances on child education," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 8(1), pages 1-18, December.
    17. Edwards, Alejandra Cox & Ureta, Manuelita, 2003. "International migration, remittances, and schooling: evidence from El Salvador," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 429-461, December.
    18. Farai Jena, 2016. "The remittance behaviour of Kenyan sibling migrants," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-19, December.
    19. Jamal Bouoiyour, Amal Miftah, 2015. "Migration, remittances and educational levels of household members left behind: Evidence from rural Morocco," European Journal of Comparative Economics, Cattaneo University (LIUC), vol. 12(1), pages 21-40, July.
    20. Cynthia Bansak & Brian Chezum, 2009. "How Do Remittances Affect Human Capital Formation of School-Age Boys and Girls?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(2), pages 145-148, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Abdulloev Ilhom & Epstein Gil S. & Gang Ira N., 2020. "Migration and Forsaken Schooling in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan," IZA Journal of Development and Migration, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 11(1), pages 1-27, January.
    2. Khraiche, Maroula & Boudreau, James, 2020. "Can lower remittance costs improve human capital accumulation in Africa?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 42(5), pages 1000-1021.
    3. Md Shahadath Hossain & Adesola Sunmoni, "undated". "Do Remittances Influence Household Investment Decisions? Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa," Economics Discussion Papers em-dp2021-04, Department of Economics, University of Reading.
    4. Chinenye Ifeoma Nwokolo & Matthew Ikechukwu Ogbuagu & Wakeel Atanda Isola, 2021. "Migrant’s remittance and investment financing nexus in Africa: Does investment climate matter?," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 1-11, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    migration; remittances; human capital;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F24 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Remittances
    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • 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

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