IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/ifwkwp/1840.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Does migration raise agricultural investment? An empirical analysis for rural Mexico

Author

Listed:
  • Böhme, Marcus

Abstract

The effect of remittances on capital accumulation remains a contested topic. This paper uses a panel data set from rural Mexico to investigate the impact of remittances on agriculture and livestock investments. After controlling for the endogeneity of migration through an instrumental variable estimation our empirical results show that international migration has a significantly positive effect on the accumulated agricultural assets but not on livestock capital. This suggests that households use the capital obtained from international migration only to overcome liquidity constraints for subsistence production whereas migration itself seems to be the superior investment option compared to other productive activities such as livestock husbandry.

Suggested Citation

  • Böhme, Marcus, 2013. "Does migration raise agricultural investment? An empirical analysis for rural Mexico," Kiel Working Papers 1840, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:ifwkwp:1840
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/73675/1/745450083.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ilahi, Nadeem, 1999. "Return Migration and Occupational Change," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(2), pages 170-186, June.
    2. Zeldes, Stephen P, 1989. "Consumption and Liquidity Constraints: An Empirical Investigation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(2), pages 305-346, April.
    3. Démurger, Sylvie & Xu, Hui, 2011. "Return Migrants: The Rise of New Entrepreneurs in Rural China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(10), pages 1847-1861.
    4. Davies, Simon & Easaw, Joshy & Ghoshray, Atanu, 2009. "Mental accounting and remittances: A study of rural Malawian households," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 321-334, June.
    5. Stark, Oded & Bloom, David E, 1985. "The New Economics of Labor Migration," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(2), pages 173-178, May.
    6. Amemiya, Takeshi, 1973. "Regression Analysis when the Dependent Variable is Truncated Normal," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 41(6), pages 997-1016, November.
    7. Angrist, Joshua D, 2001. "Estimations of Limited Dependent Variable Models with Dummy Endogenous Regressors: Simple Strategies for Empirical Practice," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 19(1), pages 2-16, January.
    8. Dercon, Stefan, 1998. "Wealth, risk and activity choice: cattle in Western Tanzania," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 1-42, February.
    9. Wouterse, Fleur & Taylor, J. Edward, 2008. "Migration and Income Diversification:: Evidence from Burkina Faso," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 625-640, April.
    10. Barry McCormick & Jackline Wahba, 2003. "Return International Migration and Geographical Inequality: The Case of Egypt," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 12(4), pages 500-532, December.
    11. Gollier, Christian & Zeckhauser, Richard J, 2002. "Horizon Length and Portfolio Risk," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 195-212, May.
    12. Vera Chiodi & Esteban Jaimovich & Gabriel Montes-Rojas, 2009. "Migration and capital accumulation: Evidence from rural Mexico," Working Papers halshs-00575022, HAL.
    13. R. Glenn Hubbard, 1998. "Capital-Market Imperfections and Investment," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(1), pages 193-225, March.
    14. Mckenzie, David & Rapoport, Hillel, 2007. "Network effects and the dynamics of migration and inequality: Theory and evidence from Mexico," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 1-24, September.
    15. Vera Chiodi & Esteban Jaimovich & Gabriel Montes-Rojas, 2012. "Migration, Remittances and Capital Accumulation: Evidence from Rural Mexico," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(8), pages 1139-1155, February.
    16. Gilchrist, Simon & Himmelberg, Charles P., 1995. "Evidence on the role of cash flow for investment," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 541-572, December.
    17. Dustmann, Christian, 1997. "Return migration, uncertainty and precautionary savings," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 295-316, April.
    18. Dean Yang, 2008. "International Migration, Remittances and Household Investment: Evidence from Philippine Migrants' Exchange Rate Shocks," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(528), pages 591-630, April.
    19. Dustmann, Christian & Kirchkamp, Oliver, 2002. "The optimal migration duration and activity choice after re-migration," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 351-372, April.
    20. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    21. Adams, Richard H, Jr, 1998. "Remittances, Investment, and Rural Asset Accumulation in Pakistan," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 47(1), pages 155-173, October.
    22. Catherine Benjamin & Euan Phimister, 2002. "Does Capital Market Structure Affect Farm Investment? A Comparison using French and British Farm-Level Panel Data," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 84(4), pages 1115-1129.
    23. Elhorst, J Paul, 1993. "The Estimation of Investment Equations at the Farm Level," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 20(2), pages 167-182.
    24. Woodruff, Christopher & Zenteno, Rene, 2007. "Migration networks and microenterprises in Mexico," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(2), pages 509-528, March.
    25. J. Edward Taylor & Alejandro Lopez-Feldman, 2010. "Does Migration Make Rural Households More Productive? Evidence from Mexico," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(1), pages 68-90.
    26. Hubbard, R Glenn & Kashyap, Anil K, 1992. "Internal Net Worth and the Investment Process: An Application to U.S. Agriculture," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(3), pages 506-534, June.
    27. Ahituv, Avner & Kimhi, Ayal, 2002. "Off-farm work and capital accumulation decisions of farmers over the life-cycle: the role of heterogeneity and state dependence," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 329-353, August.
    28. Piracha, Matloob & Vadean, Florin, 2010. "Return Migration and Occupational Choice: Evidence from Albania," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 1141-1155, August.
    29. Mendola, Mariapia, 2008. "Migration and technological change in rural households: Complements or substitutes?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(1-2), pages 150-175, February.
    30. Taylor, J Edward & Rozelle, Scott & de Brauw, Alan, 2003. "Migration and Incomes in Source Communities: A New Economics of Migration Perspective from China," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 52(1), pages 75-101, October.
    31. Nadeem Ilahi, 1999. "Return Migration and Occupational Change," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(2), pages 170-186, June.
    32. Agnes Quisumbing & Scott McNiven, 2010. "Moving Forward, Looking Back: the Impact of Migration and Remittances on Assets, Consumption, and Credit Constraints in the Rural Philippines," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(1), pages 91-113.
    33. Alice Mesnard, 2004. "Temporary migration and capital market imperfections," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 56(2), pages 242-262, April.
    34. Russell L. Lamb, 2003. "Fertilizer Use, Risk, and Off-Farm Labor Markets in the Semi-Arid Tropics of India," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 85(2), pages 359-371.
    35. Steven M. Fazzari & R. Glenn Hubbard & Bruce C. Petersen, 1988. "Financing Constraints and Corporate Investment," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 19(1), pages 141-206.
    36. Vera Chiodi & Vera Chiodi, 2012. "Migration and capital accumulation: Evidence from rural Mexico," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) halshs-01063694, HAL.
    37. de Brauw, Alan & Rozelle, Scott, 2008. "Migration and household investment in rural China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 320-335, June.
    38. J. Edward Taylor & Scott Rozelle & Alan deBrauw, 1999. "Migration, Remittances, and Agricultural Productivity in China," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 287-291, May.
    39. David McKenzie & Hillel Rapoport, 2010. "Self-Selection Patterns in Mexico-U.S. Migration: The Role of Migration Networks," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 92(4), pages 811-821, November.
    40. Arslan, Aslihan & Taylor, J. Edward, 2011. "Whole-household migration, inequality and poverty in rural Mexico," Kiel Working Papers 1742, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    41. Jesus Cañas & Roberto Coronado & Pia M. Orrenius & Madeline Zavodny, 2010. "Do remittances boost economic development? Evidence from Mexican states," Working Papers 1007, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
    42. 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.
    43. Amy Lynne Damon, 2010. "Agricultural Land Use and Asset Accumulation in Migrant Households: the Case of El Salvador," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(1), pages 162-189.
    44. Lucas, Robert E B, 1987. "Emigration to South Africa's Mines," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(3), pages 313-330, June.
    45. Angrist, Joshua D, 2001. "Estimations of Limited Dependent Variable Models with Dummy Endogenous Regressors: Simple Strategies for Empirical Practice: Reply," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 19(1), pages 27-28, January.
    46. Ralph Bierlen & Allen M. Featherstone, 1998. "Fundamental q, Cash Flow, and Investment: Evidence from Farm Panel Data," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 80(3), pages 427-435, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Piras, Simone & Vittuari, Matteo & Möllers, Judith & Herzfeld, Thomas, 2018. "Remittance inflow and smallholder farming practices. The case of Moldova," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 654-665.
    2. 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).
    3. Xinhui Wu & Luan Chen & Li Ma & Liru Cai & Xun Li, 2023. "Return migration, rural household investment decision, and poverty alleviation: Evidence from rural Guangdong, China," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 304-325, March.
    4. Chinedu Obi & Fabio Bartolini & Marijke D’Haese, 2020. "International migration, remittance and food security during food crises: the case study of Nigeria," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 12(1), pages 207-220, February.
    5. Wanglin Ma & Awudu Abdulai, 2017. "The economic impacts of agricultural cooperatives on smallholder farmers in rural China," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(4), pages 537-551, September.
    6. Aiko Kikkawa & Keijiro Otsuka, 2020. "The changing landscape of international migration: evidence from rural households in Bangladesh, 2000–2014," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(3), pages 222-239, July.
    7. Mullally, C., 2018. "Migration and economic activity among origin households: the role of female household headship," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 276993, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    8. Ubaid Ali & Mazhar Mughal & Lionel de Boisdeffre, 2023. "Migrant remittances, agriculture investment and cropping patterns," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(3), pages 899-920, September.
    9. Mack, Elizabeth A. & Sauls, Laura Aileen & Jokisch, Brad D. & Nolte, Kerstin & Schmook, Birgit & He, Yifan & Radel, Claudia & Allington, Ginger R.H. & Kelley, Lisa C. & Scott, Christian Kelly & Leisz,, 2023. "Remittances and land change: A systematic review," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    10. Apsara KARKI NEPAL & Mani NEPAL & Randall BLUFFSTONE, 2023. "International labour migration, farmland fallowing, livelihood diversification and technology adoption in Nepal," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 162(4), pages 687-713, December.
    11. López-Feldman, Alejandro & Chávez, Estefanía, 2017. "Remittances and Natural Resource Extraction: Evidence from Mexico," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 69-79.
    12. Bierkamp, Sina & Nguyen, Trung Thanh & Grote, Ulrike, 2021. "Environmental income and remittances: Evidence from rural central highlands of Vietnam," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    13. Zhipeng Huang & Yan Zhang & Yi Huang & Gang Xu & Shengping Shang, 2022. "Sales Scale, Non-Pastoral Employment and Herders’ Technology Adoption: Evidence from Pastoral China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-13, July.

    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. Démurger, Sylvie & Xu, Hui, 2011. "Return Migrants: The Rise of New Entrepreneurs in Rural China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(10), pages 1847-1861.
    2. Rapoport, Hillel & Docquier, Frederic, 2006. "The Economics of Migrants' Remittances," Handbook on the Economics of Giving, Reciprocity and Altruism, in: S. Kolm & Jean Mercier Ythier (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Giving, Altruism and Reciprocity, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 17, pages 1135-1198, Elsevier.
    3. Ubaid Ali & Mazhar Mughal & Lionel de Boisdeffre, 2023. "Migrant remittances, agriculture investment and cropping patterns," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(3), pages 899-920, September.
    4. I-Ling Shen & Frédéric Docquier & Hillel Rapoport, 2010. "Remittances and inequality: a dynamic migration model," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 8(2), pages 197-220, June.
    5. Chaitali Sinha, 2017. "International Migration and Welfare Implications," South Asian Journal of Macroeconomics and Public Finance, , vol. 6(2), pages 209-229, December.
    6. Naudé, Wim & Siegel, Melissa & Marchand, Katrin, 2015. "Migration, entrepreneurship and development: A critical review," MERIT Working Papers 2015-033, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    7. Feng Hu, 2013. "Does migration benefit the schooling of children left behind?," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 29(2), pages 33-70.
    8. Garcia, Pablo M & Rodriguez-Montemayor, Eduardo, 2010. "A primer of international migration: The Latin American experience and a proposal for a research agenda," MPRA Paper 24147, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Tigran A. Melkonyan & Mr. David A. Grigorian, 2008. "Microeconomic Implications of Remittances in an Overlapping Generations Model with Altruism and Self-Interest," IMF Working Papers 2008/019, International Monetary Fund.
    10. Woodruff, Christopher & Zenteno, Rene, 2007. "Migration networks and microenterprises in Mexico," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(2), pages 509-528, March.
    11. Göbel, Kristin, 2012. "Remittances and Gender-Speci fic Employment Patterns in Peru - a longitudinal Analysis," VfS Annual Conference 2012 (Goettingen): New Approaches and Challenges for the Labor Market of the 21st Century 65409, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    12. Sandra Orozco-Aleman & Heriberto Gonzalez-Lozano, 2021. "Return Migration and Self-Employment: Evidence from Mexican Migrants," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 42(2), pages 148-183, June.
    13. Eduardo Rodríguez-Montemayor & Pablo M. García, 2009. "A Primer of International Migration: The Latin American Experience," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 9327, Inter-American Development Bank.
    14. Indra Kant Bharti & Tulika Tripathi, 2020. "Effect of Remittance on Intergenerational Mobility in Case of Occupation," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 63(4), pages 1203-1221, December.
    15. Mahé, Clothilde & Naudé, Wim, 2016. "Migration, occupation and education: Evidence from Ghana," MERIT Working Papers 2016-018, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    16. Dean Yang, 2008. "International Migration, Remittances and Household Investment: Evidence from Philippine Migrants' Exchange Rate Shocks," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(528), pages 591-630, April.
    17. Wahba, Jackline & Zenou, Yves, 2012. "Out of sight, out of mind: Migration, entrepreneurship and social capital," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(5), pages 890-903.
    18. Marchetta, Francesca, 2012. "Return Migration and the Survival of Entrepreneurial Activities in Egypt," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(10), pages 1999-2013.
    19. Laurent Bossavie & Çağlar Özden, 2023. "Impacts of Temporary Migration on Development in Origin Countries," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 38(2), pages 249-294.
    20. Ruixin Zhang & Lei Luo & Yuying Liu & Xinhong Fu, 2022. "Impact of Labor Migration on Chemical Fertilizer Application of Citrus Growers: Empirical Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-14, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    migration; investment; Mexico; agriculture;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior
    • J6 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers
    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development

    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:zbw:ifwkwp:1840. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iwkiede.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.