IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/20262.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Channeling Remittances to Education: A Field Experiment Among Migrants from El Salvador

Author

Listed:
  • Kate Ambler
  • Diego Aycinena
  • Dean Yang

Abstract

We implement a randomized experiment offering Salvadoran migrants matching funds for educational remittances, which are channeled directly to a beneficiary student in El Salvador chosen by the migrant. The matches lead to increased educational expenditures, higher private school attendance, and lower labor supply of youths in El Salvador households connected to migrant study participants. We find substantial "crowd-in" of educational investments: for each $1 received by beneficiaries, educational expenditures increase by $3.72. We find no shifting of expenditures away from other students, and no effect on remittances.

Suggested Citation

  • Kate Ambler & Diego Aycinena & Dean Yang, 2014. "Channeling Remittances to Education: A Field Experiment Among Migrants from El Salvador," NBER Working Papers 20262, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20262
    Note: DEV ED
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w20262.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Armand, Alex & Carneiro, Pedro & Locatelli, Andrea & Mihreteab, Selam & Keating, Joseph, 2017. "Do public health interventions crowd out private health investments? Malaria control policies in Eritrea," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 107-115.
    2. De Arcangelis, Giuseppe & Joxhe, Majlinda & McKenzie, David & Tiongson, Erwin & Yang, Dean, 2015. "Directing remittances to education with soft and hard commitments: Evidence from a lab-in-the-field experiment and new product take-up among Filipino migrants in Rome," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 197-208.
    3. Nava Ashraf & Diego Aycinena & Claudia Martínez A. & Dean Yang, 2015. "Savings in Transnational Households: A Field Experiment among Migrants from El Salvador," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 97(2), pages 332-351, May.
    4. Torero, Máximo & Viceisza, Angelino, 2015. "To remit, or not to remit: that is the question. A remittance field experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 221-236.
    5. Esther Duflo & William Gale & Jeffrey Liebman & Peter Orszag & Emmanuel Saez, 2006. "Saving Incentives for Low- and Middle-Income Families: Evidence from a Field Experiment with H&R Block," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 121(4), pages 1311-1346.
    6. Glewwe, Paul & Kassouf, Ana Lucia, 2012. "The impact of the Bolsa Escola/Familia conditional cash transfer program on enrollment, dropout rates and grade promotion in Brazil," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 505-517.
    7. Angelucci, Manuela & De Giorgi, Giacomo & Rangel, Marcos A. & Rasul, Imran, 2010. "Family networks and school enrolment: Evidence from a randomized social experiment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(3-4), pages 197-221, April.
    8. Michael Clemens & Claudio Montenegro & Lant Pritchett, 2008. "The Place Premium: Wage Differences for Identical Workers across the U.S. Border," Working Papers 148, Center for Global Development.
    9. Andrews,Donald W. K. & Stock,James H. (ed.), 2005. "Identification and Inference for Econometric Models," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521844413, September.
    10. Dean Karlan & John A. List, 2007. "Does Price Matter in Charitable Giving? Evidence from a Large-Scale Natural Field Experiment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(5), pages 1774-1793, December.
    11. Caroline Theoharides, 2018. "Manila to Malaysia, Quezon to Qatar: International Migration and Its Effects on Origin-Country Human Capital," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 53(4), pages 1022-1049.
    12. Afridi, Farzana, 2010. "Child welfare programs and child nutrition: Evidence from a mandated school meal program in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(2), pages 152-165, July.
    13. A. Abigail Payne, 2009. "Does Government Funding Change Behavior? An Empirical Analysis of Crowd-Out," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 23, pages 159-184, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Esther Duflo & Christopher Udry, 2003. "Intrahousehold Resource Allocation in Côte D'ivoire: Social Norms, Separate Accounts and Consumption Choices," Working Papers 857, Economic Growth Center, Yale University.
    15. Manuela Angelucci & Giacomo De Giorgi, 2009. "Indirect Effects of an Aid Program: How Do Cash Transfers Affect Ineligibles' Consumption?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(1), pages 486-508, March.
    16. Joshua Angrist & Eric Bettinger & Erik Bloom & Elizabeth King & Michael Kremer, 2002. "Vouchers for Private Schooling in Colombia: Evidence from a Randomized Natural Experiment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(5), pages 1535-1558, December.
    17. Mahnaz Islam & John Hoddinott, 2009. "Evidence of Intrahousehold Flypaper Effects from a Nutrition Intervention in Rural Guatemala," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 57(2), pages 215-238, January.
    18. Norbert Schady & Ariel Fiszbein & Francisco H.G. Ferreira & Niall Keleher & Margaret Grosh & Pedro Olinto & Emmanuel Skoufias, 2009. "Conditional Cash Transfers : Reducing Present and Future Poverty," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2597, April.
    19. Felipe Barrera-Osorio & Marianne Bertrand & Leigh L. Linden & Francisco Perez-Calle, 2011. "Improving the Design of Conditional Transfer Programs: Evidence from a Randomized Education Experiment in Colombia," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(2), pages 167-195, April.
    20. Jishnu Das & Stefan Dercon & James Habyarimana & Pramila Krishnan & Karthik Muralidharan & Venkatesh Sundararaman, 2013. "School Inputs, Household Substitution, and Test Scores," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(2), pages 29-57, April.
    21. Sarah Baird & Craig McIntosh & Berk Özler, 2011. "Cash or Condition? Evidence from a Cash Transfer Experiment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(4), pages 1709-1753.
    22. Shi, Xinzheng, 2012. "Does an intra-household flypaper effect exist? Evidence from the educational fee reduction reform in rural China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(2), pages 459-473.
    23. Michael Clemens, 2011. "Economics and Emigration: Trillion-Dollar Bills on the Sidewalk? - Working Paper 264," Working Papers 264, Center for Global Development.
    24. Ambler, Kate, 2013. "Don’t tell on me: Experimental evidence of asymmetric information in transnational households," IFPRI discussion papers 1312, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    25. Hanan G. Jacoby, 2002. "Is There an Intrahousehold "Flypaper Effect"? Evidence From a School Feeding Programme," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(476), pages 196-221, January.
    26. Gilligan, Daniel & de Brauw, Alan, 2011. "Using the regression discontinuity design with implicit partitions: The impacts of comunidades solidarias rurales on schooling in El Salvador," IFPRI discussion papers 1116, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    27. Alejandra Cox Edwards & Manuelita Ureta, 2003. "International Migration, Remittances, and Schooling: Evidence from El Salvador," NBER Working Papers 9766, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    28. AfDB AfDB, . "Annual Report 2012," Annual Report, African Development Bank, number 461.
    29. Manuela Angelucci & Orazio Attanasio, 2009. "Oportunidades: Program Effect on Consumption, Low Participation, and Methodological Issues," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 57(3), pages 479-506, April.
    30. 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.
    31. Paul Schultz, T., 2004. "School subsidies for the poor: evaluating the Mexican Progresa poverty program," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(1), pages 199-250, June.
    32. Behrman, Jere R & Sengupta, Piyali & Todd, Petra, 2005. "Progressing through PROGRESA: An Impact Assessment of a School Subsidy Experiment in Rural Mexico," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 54(1), pages 237-275, October.
    33. Michael A. Clemens, 2011. "Economics and Emigration: Trillion-Dollar Bills on the Sidewalk?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 25(3), pages 83-106, Summer.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Del Rey, Elena & Estevan, Fernanda, 2013. "Conditional cash transfers and education quality in the presence of credit constraints," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 76-84.
    2. Richard Akresh & Damien de Walque & Harounan Kazianga, 2013. "Cash Transfers and Child Schooling: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation of the Role of Conditionality," Economics Working Paper Series 1301, Oklahoma State University, Department of Economics and Legal Studies in Business.
    3. Michael A. Clemens & Timothy N. Ogden, 2020. "Migration and household finances: How a different framing can improve thinking about migration," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 38(1), pages 3-27, January.
    4. Jere R. Behrman & Jorge Gallardo-Garc�a & Susan W. Parker & Petra E. Todd & Viviana V�lez-Grajales, 2012. "Are conditional cash transfers effective in urban areas? Evidence from Mexico," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(3), pages 233-259, February.
    5. Francesca Marchetta & Tom Dilly, 2019. "Supporting Education in Africa: Opportunities and Challenges for an Impact Investor," Working Papers hal-02288103, HAL.
    6. Karthik Muralidharan & Nishith Prakash, 2017. "Cycling to School: Increasing Secondary School Enrollment for Girls in India," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 321-350, July.
    7. Fan Li & Yingquan Song & Hongmei Yi & Jianguo Wei & Linxiu Zhang & Yaojiang Shi & James Chu & Natalie Johnson & Prashant Loyalka & Scott Rozelle, 2017. "The impact of conditional cash transfers on the matriculation of junior high school students into rural China’s high schools," Journal of Development Effectiveness, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(1), pages 41-60, January.
    8. Gröger, André, 2021. "Easy come, easy go? Economic shocks, labor migration and the family left behind," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    9. Karen Macours & Norbert Schady & Renos Vakis, 2012. "Cash Transfers, Behavioral Changes, and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(2), pages 247-273, April.
    10. Sarah Baird & Aislinn Bohren & Craig McIntosh & Berk Ozler, 2014. "Designing Experiments to Measure Spillover Effects," PIER Working Paper Archive 14-032, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania.
    11. Leonardo Bursztyn & Lucas C. Coffman, 2012. "The Schooling Decision: Family Preferences, Intergenerational Conflict, and Moral Hazard in the Brazilian Favelas," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 120(3), pages 359-397.
    12. Zhou, Lei & Jiang, Bo & Wang, Jingxi, 2020. "Do cash transfers have impacts on student Academic, cognitive, and enrollment outcomes? Evidence from rural China," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    13. 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).
    14. Seshan, Ganesh & Yang, Dean, 2014. "Motivating migrants: A field experiment on financial decision-making in transnational households," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 119-127.
    15. Hélène Giacobino & Elise Huillery & Bastien Michel & Mathilde Sage, 2022. "Schoolgirls Not Brides: Secondary Education as a Shield Against Child Marriage," Working Papers DT/2022/01, DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation).
    16. Theoharides, Caroline, 2020. "The unintended consequences of migration policy on origin-country labor market decisions," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    17. Estevan, Fernanda, 2013. "The impact of conditional cash transfers on public education expenditures: A political economy approach," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 268-284.
    18. Galiani, Sebastian & McEwan, Patrick J., 2013. "The heterogeneous impact of conditional cash transfers," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 85-96.
    19. Saavedra, Juan Esteban & Garcia, Sandra, 2012. "Impacts of Conditional Cash Transfer Programs on Educational Outcomes in Developing Countries: A Meta-analysis," Working Papers 921-1, RAND Corporation.
    20. Sandra García & Juan Saavedra, 2017. "Educational Impacts and Cost-Effectiveness of Conditional Cash Transfer Programs in Developing Countries: A Meta-Analysis," NBER Working Papers 23594, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • F24 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Remittances
    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies
    • I22 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Educational Finance; Financial Aid
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20262. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.