IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/rdevec/v26y2022i1p208-241.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

International remittances and nonfarm entrepreneurship among the left‐behind: Evidence from Nepal

Author

Listed:
  • Paras Kharel
  • Jorge Dávalos
  • Kshitiz Dahal

Abstract

Nepal has one of the largest personal remittances‐to‐gross domestic product ratios globally, which raises questions regarding the role of remittances in key welfare–related outcomes among the left‐behind population. This paper assesses the impact of remittances from international migration on the left‐behind households’ engagement in nonfarm self‐employment and on the revenues of the nonfarm enterprises they operate. The empirical analysis is based on a Nepal household survey that includes an enterprise module for 2011 and on an instrumental variable‐tobit econometric specification. In accordance with Gronau's theoretical framework, remittances were found to discourage women's engagement in nonfarm self‐employment (disincentive effect), whereas there was no significant effect on men. Consequently, we find that the disincentive effect was sufficiently strong to exert a negative impact on the revenues of nonfarm enterprises operated by the left‐behind.

Suggested Citation

  • Paras Kharel & Jorge Dávalos & Kshitiz Dahal, 2022. "International remittances and nonfarm entrepreneurship among the left‐behind: Evidence from Nepal," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(1), pages 208-241, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:rdevec:v:26:y:2022:i:1:p:208-241
    DOI: 10.1111/rode.12840
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/rode.12840
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/rode.12840?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael Lokshin & Elena Glinskaya, 2009. "The Effect of Male Migration on Employment Patterns of Women in Nepal," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 23(3), pages 481-507, November.
    2. Dean Yang, 2011. "Migrant Remittances," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 25(3), pages 129-152, Summer.
    3. 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.
    4. Wim Naudé & Melissa Siegel & Katrin Marchand, 2017. "Migration, entrepreneurship and development: critical questions," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 6(1), pages 1-16, December.
    5. Patrick Puhani, 2000. "The Heckman Correction for Sample Selection and Its Critique," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(1), pages 53-68, February.
    6. Reuben Gronau, 1974. "The Effect of Children on the Housewife's Value of Time," NBER Chapters, in: Economics of the Family: Marriage, Children, and Human Capital, pages 457-490, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. 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.
    8. Siu Fai Leung & Shihti Yu, 2000. "Collinearity and Two-Step Estimation of Sample Selection Models: Problems, Origins, and Remedies," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 15(3), pages 173-199, June.
    9. Chakra P. Acharya & Roberto Leon-Gonzalez, 2014. "How do Migration and Remittances Affect Human Capital Investment? The Effects of Relaxing Information and Liquidity Constraints," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(3), pages 444-460, March.
    10. 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.
    11. 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.
    12. 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.
    13. David A. Grigorian & Tigran A. Melkonyan, 2011. "Destined to Receive: The Impact of Remittances on Household Decisions in Armenia," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(1), pages 139-153, February.
    14. Andrews,Donald W. K. & Stock,James H. (ed.), 2005. "Identification and Inference for Econometric Models," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521844413, September.
    15. Binzel, Christine & Assaad, Ragui, 2011. "Egyptian men working abroad: Labour supply responses by the women left behind," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(S1), pages 98-114.
    16. Marc F. Bellemare & Casey J. Wichman, 2020. "Elasticities and the Inverse Hyperbolic Sine Transformation," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 82(1), pages 50-61, February.
    17. Mishra, Prachi, 2007. "Emigration and wages in source countries: Evidence from Mexico," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 180-199, January.
    18. Catalina Amuedo‐Dorantes & Susan Pozo, 2006. "Remittance Receipt and Business Ownership in the Dominican Republic," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(7), pages 939-956, July.
    19. 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.
    20. Michel Beine & Fréderic Docquier & Hillel Rapoport, 2008. "Brain Drain and Human Capital Formation in Developing Countries: Winners and Losers," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(528), pages 631-652, April.
    21. Phadera, Lokendra, 2016. "International Migration and its Effect on Labor Supply of the Left-Behind Household Members: Evidence from Nepal," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235968, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    22. Woodruff, Christopher & Zenteno, Rene, 2007. "Migration networks and microenterprises in Mexico," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(2), pages 509-528, March.
    23. Kaivan Munshi, 2003. "Networks in the Modern Economy: Mexican Migrants in the U. S. Labor Market," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(2), pages 549-599.
    24. Sharma, Hari, 2020. "The effect of emigration and remittances on labour supply of the left-behind: Evidence from Nepal," MPRA Paper 102091, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    25. Heckman, James J, 1974. "Shadow Prices, Market Wages, and Labor Supply," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 42(4), pages 679-694, July.
    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. 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.
    2. Sylvie Démurger & Shi Li, 2013. "Migration, Remittances, and Rural Employment Patterns: Evidence from China," Research in Labor Economics, in: Labor Market Issues in China, pages 31-63, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    3. repec:hal:wpaper:halshs-00744438 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. 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).
    5. Zhang, Yi & Matz, Julia Anna, 2017. "On the train to brain gain in rural China," Discussion Papers 252443, University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF).
    6. 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.
    7. Ainembabazi John Herbert & Francis H. Kemeze, 2022. "Working Paper 366 - Remittances and employment in family-owned firms: Evidence from Nigeria and Uganda," Working Paper Series 2492, African Development Bank.
    8. Marcus H. Böhme, 2015. "Does migration raise agricultural investment? An empirical analysis for rural Mexico," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 46(2), pages 211-225, March.
    9. Murard, Elie, 2016. "Consumption and Leisure: The Welfare Impact of Migration on Family Left Behind," IZA Discussion Papers 10305, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. 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).
    11. 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.
    12. Abramitzky, Ran & Boustan, Leah Platt & Eriksson, Katherine, 2013. "Have the poor always been less likely to migrate? Evidence from inheritance practices during the age of mass migration," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 2-14.
    13. Bossavie, Laurent & Görlach, Joseph-Simon & Özden, Çağlar & Wang, He, 2024. "Capital Markets, Temporary Migration and Entrepreneurship: Evidence from Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    14. Görlich, Dennis & Omar Mahmoud, Toman & Trebesch, Christoph, 2007. "Explaining labour market inactivity in migrant-sending families: Housework, hammock, or higher education?," Kiel Working Papers 1391, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    15. Tiwari, Sailesh & Bhattarai, Keshav, 2011. "Migration, remittances and forests : disentangling the impact of population and economic growth on forests," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5907, The World Bank.
    16. Hanson, Gordon H., 2010. "International Migration and the Developing World," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Dani Rodrik & Mark Rosenzweig (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 4363-4414, Elsevier.
    17. Quinones, Esteban J. & Barham, Bradford L., 2018. "Endogenous Selection, Migration and Occupation Outcomes for Rural Southern Mexicans," Staff Paper Series 587, University of Wisconsin, Agricultural and Applied Economics.
    18. George Berulava, 2019. "Migration and labor supply in Georgia: an empirical study," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 9(3), pages 395-419, September.
    19. 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.
    20. Phadera, Lokendra, 2016. "International Migration and its Effect on Labor Supply of the Left-Behind Household Members: Evidence from Nepal," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235968, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    21. Zhao, Sudan & Jiang, Yongmu, 2022. "Heterogeneous effects of rural–urban migration and migrant earnings on land efficiency: Empirical evidence from China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).

    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:rdevec:v:26:y:2022:i:1:p:208-241. 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: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1363-6669 .

    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.