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Migration, remittances and human capital investment in Kenya

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  • Annie L. Hines
  • Nicole B. Simpson

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 (which was part of 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

  • Annie L. Hines & Nicole B. Simpson, 2019. "Migration, remittances and human capital investment in Kenya," Economic Notes, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, vol. 48(3), November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecnote:v:48:y:2019:i:3:n:e12142
    DOI: 10.1111/ecno.12142
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    1. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.

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    More about this item

    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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