IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/agecon/v45y2014i6p711-727.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Childhood obesity in Mexico: the effect of international migration

Author

Listed:
  • Amy Damon
  • Devon Kristiansen

Abstract

This article estimates the effect of international migration from Mexico to the United States on the obesity status of children who remain in Mexico. Theory suggests that increased liquidity as well as changing time allocations resulting from migration may influence obesity outcomes. Natural disasters are used as an identification strategy. Results suggest that older boys in urban areas are more likely to become obese when either a male or female migrates from the household, while girls in urban areas are less likely to become obese. Both changes in food expenditure patterns and time use changes after migration are likely pathways that affect childhood obesity. While there are some changes in food expenditures, we find more importantly that urban girls engage in more housework and screen time after migration, whereas urban teen boys do not substitute for adult work as much as girls. These changes in strenuous activities, particularly for girls, likely explain the differential effect that migration has on boys’ and girls’ obesity outcomes in Mexico.

Suggested Citation

  • Amy Damon & Devon Kristiansen, 2014. "Childhood obesity in Mexico: the effect of international migration," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 45(6), pages 711-727, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:agecon:v:45:y:2014:i:6:p:711-727
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/agec.12117
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gibson, John & McKenzie, David & Stillman, Steven, 2011. "What happens to diet and child health when migration splits households? Evidence from a migration lottery program," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 7-15, February.
    2. Funkhouser, Edward, 1992. "Migration from Nicaragua: some recent evidence," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 20(8), pages 1209-1218, August.
    3. Sonya Huffman & Marian Rizov, 2010. "The Rise of Obesity in Transition: Theory and Empirical Evidence from Russia," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(3), pages 574-594.
    4. Tomas J. Philipson & Richard A. Posner, 1999. "The Long-Run Growth in Obesity as a Function of Technological Change," Working Papers 9912, Harris School of Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago.
    5. Darius Lakdawalla & Tomas Philipson, 2002. "The Growth of Obesity and Technological Change: A Theoretical and Empirical Examination," Working Papers 0203, Harris School of Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago.
    6. Cameron, Michael P. & Lim, Steven, 2007. "Household resources, household composition, and child nutritional outcomes," 2007 Conference (51st), February 13-16, 2007, Queenstown, New Zealand 10371, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    7. Hanson, Gordon H., 2007. "Emigration, Remittances and Labor Force Participation in Mexico," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 2637, Inter-American Development Bank.
    8. Popkin, Barry M., 1999. "Urbanization, Lifestyle Changes and the Nutrition Transition," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(11), pages 1905-1916, November.
    9. Azzarri, Carlo & Zezza, Alberto, 2011. "International migration and nutritional outcomes in Tajikistan," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 54-70, February.
    10. Karamba, Wendy R. & Quiñones, Esteban J. & Winters, Paul, 2011. "Migration and food consumption patterns in Ghana," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 41-53, February.
    11. Darius Lakdawalla & Tomas Philipson & Jay Bhattacharya, 2005. "Welfare-Enhancing Technological Change and the Growth of Obesity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(2), pages 253-257, May.
    12. Halliday, Timothy, 2006. "Migration, Risk, and Liquidity Constraints in El Salvador," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 54(4), pages 893-925, July.
    13. Pablo Acosta, 2011. "School Attendance, Child Labour, and Remittances from International Migration in El Salvador," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(6), pages 913-936.
    14. Abay Asfaw, 2011. "Does consumption of processed foods explain disparities in the body weight of individuals? The case of Guatemala," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(2), pages 184-195, February.
    15. David J. McKenzie & Nicole Hildebrandt, 2005. "The Effects of Migration on Child Health in Mexico," Economía Journal, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association - LACEA, vol. 0(Fall 2005), pages 257-289, August.
    16. Shawn Kanaiaupuni & Katharine Donato, 1999. "Migradollars and mortality: The effects of migration on infant survival in Mexico," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 36(3), pages 339-353, August.
    17. Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes & Susan Pozo, 2006. "Migration, Remittances, and Male and Female Employment Patterns," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 222-226, May.
    18. Awudu Abdulai, 2010. "Socio-economic characteristics and obesity in underdeveloped economies: does income really matter?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(2), pages 157-169.
    19. Gordon H. Hanson, 2007. "Emigration, Remittances and Labor Force Participation in Mexico," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 9371, Inter-American Development Bank.
    20. Neeraj Kaushal, 2009. "Adversities of acculturation? Prevalence of obesity among immigrants," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(3), pages 291-303, March.
    21. Steven Stillman & John Gibson & David Mckenzie, 2012. "The Impact Of Immigration On Child Health: Experimental Evidence From A Migration Lottery Program," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 50(1), pages 62-81, January.
    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. 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.
    2. 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).
    3. Kostas Mavromaras & Alfiah Hasanah & Silvia Mendolia & Oleg Yerokhin, 2017. "Labour Migration, Food Expenditure, and Household Food Security in Eastern Indonesia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 93, pages 122-143, June.

    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. Francisca M. Antman, 2013. "The impact of migration on family left behind," Chapters, in: Amelie F. Constant & Klaus F. Zimmermann (ed.), International Handbook on the Economics of Migration, chapter 16, pages 293-308, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Sèna Kimm Gnangnon, 2020. "Development aid, remittances inflows and wages in the manufacturing sector," Journal of Social and Economic Development, Springer;Institute for Social and Economic Change, vol. 22(2), pages 278-304, December.
    3. Azizi, SeyedSoroosh, 2018. "The impacts of workers' remittances on human capital and labor supply in developing countries," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 377-396.
    4. Patricia Justino & Olga Shemyakina, 2012. "Remittances and labor supply in post-conflict Tajikistan," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 1(1), pages 1-28, December.
    5. Butzlaf, Iris & Minos, Dimitrios, 2016. "Understanding the Drivers of Overweight and Obesity in Developing Countries: The Case of South Africa," GlobalFood Discussion Papers 232025, Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen, GlobalFood, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development.
    6. Edward Asiedu & Nurokinan Chimbar, 2020. "Impact of remittances on male and female labor force participation patterns in Africa: Quasi‐experimental evidence from Ghana," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(3), pages 1009-1026, August.
    7. Gröger, André, 2021. "Easy come, easy go? Economic shocks, labor migration and the family left behind," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    8. Chami, Ralph. & Ernst, Ekkehard & Fullenkamp, Connel. & Oeking, Anne., 2018. "Are remittances good for labor markets in LICs, MICs and Fragile States?," ILO Working Papers 994987690202676, International Labour Organization.
    9. Jounghyeon Kim, 2019. "The Impact of Remittances on Exchange Rate and Money Supply: Does “Openness” Matter in Developing Countries?," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(15), pages 3682-3707, December.
    10. Finkelstein Shapiro, Alan & Mandelman, Federico S., 2016. "Remittances, entrepreneurship, and employment dynamics over the business cycle," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 184-199.
    11. Demirgüç-Kunt, Asli & Córdova, Ernesto López & Pería, María Soledad Martínez & Woodruff, Christopher, 2011. "Remittances and banking sector breadth and depth: Evidence from Mexico," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(2), pages 229-241, July.
    12. Sena Kimm Gnangnon, 2019. "Remittances Inflows and Trade Policy," Remittances Review, Remittances Review, vol. 4(2), pages 117-142, October.
    13. Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes & Susan Pozo, 2012. "Remittance Income Volatility and Labor Supply in Mexico," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 79(2), pages 257-276, October.
    14. Acosta, Pablo A. & Lartey, Emmanuel K.K. & Mandelman, Federico S., 2009. "Remittances and the Dutch disease," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(1), pages 102-116, September.
    15. Anda DAVID & Audrey LENOEL, 2017. "International emigration and labour market outcomes of women staying behind: the case of Morocco," Working Paper f7f57256-7aaf-4dc5-9840-b, Agence française de développement.
    16. Liu, Chang & Eriksson, Tor & Yi, Fujin, 2021. "Offspring migration and nutritional status of left-behind older adults in rural China," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    17. Mariapia Mendola & Gero Carletto, 2008. "International migration and gender differentials in the home labor market: evidence from Albania," Working Papers 148, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised Dec 2008.
    18. Qian Guo & Wenkai Sun & Yijie Wang, 2017. "Effect of Parental Migration on Children's Health in Rural China," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(4), pages 1132-1157, November.
    19. Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes & Susan Pozo, 2012. "Remittance Income Volatility and Labor Supply in Mexico," Southern Economic Journal, Southern Economic Association, vol. 79(2), pages 257-276, October.
    20. Seidu, Ayuba & Onel, Gulcan & Moss, Charles Britt, 2018. "Impact of International Remittance on Out-Farm Labor Migration in Developing Countries: A Dynamic Panel Data Analysis," 2018 Annual Meeting, February 2-6, 2018, Jacksonville, Florida 266531, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.

    More about this item

    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:bla:agecon:v:45:y:2014:i:6:p:711-727. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iaaeeea.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.