IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v129y2020ics0305750x2030005x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can rural outmigration improve household food security? Empirical evidence from Ethiopia

Author

Listed:
  • Abebaw, Degnet
  • Admassie, Assefa
  • Kassa, Habtemariam
  • Padoch, Christine

Abstract

Food insecurity in Ethiopia is a persistent development challenge. In this paper, we investigate the effects of rural outmigration on indicators of household food security in Ethiopia. The empirical data come from a two-year panel data collected from three regions of the country. To control for the potential endogeneity of migration and migration selection bias, our estimation uses a combination of a difference-in-difference (DID) model and an inverse-probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) approach (IPTW-DID). We find that, on average, rural outmigration has significantly improved the amount of daily calories consumed per adult equivalent by around 22%. Our estimation results also show that outmigration has significantly reduced food poverty gap and severity of food poverty by seven and four percentage points, respectively.

Suggested Citation

  • 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).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:129:y:2020:i:c:s0305750x2030005x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.104879
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X2030005X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.104879?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
    ---><---

    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. Dercon, Stefan & Christiaensen, Luc, 2011. "Consumption risk, technology adoption and poverty traps: Evidence from Ethiopia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 159-173, November.
    2. Foster, James & Greer, Joel & Thorbecke, Erik, 1984. "A Class of Decomposable Poverty Measures," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(3), pages 761-766, May.
    3. 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.
    4. Azzarri, Carlo & Zezza, Alberto, 2011. "International migration and nutritional outcomes in Tajikistan," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 54-70, February.
    5. Daniel O. Gilligan & John Hoddinott, 2007. "Is There Persistence in the Impact of Emergency Food Aid? Evidence on Consumption, Food Security, and Assets in Rural Ethiopia," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 89(2), pages 225-242.
    6. Erwin Knippenberg & Dean Jolliffe & John Hoddinott, 2020. "Land Fragmentation and Food Insecurity in Ethiopia," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 102(5), pages 1557-1577, October.
    7. Salvatore Di Falco & Marcella Veronesi & Mahmud Yesuf, 2011. "Does Adaptation to Climate Change Provide Food Security? A Micro-Perspective from Ethiopia," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 93(3), pages 825-842.
    8. McKenzie, David & Sasin, Marcin J., 2007. "Migration, remittances, poverty, and human capital : conceptual and empirical challenges," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4272, The World Bank.
    9. Ahmad Sadiddin & Andrea Cattaneo & Marinella Cirillo & Meghan Miller, 2019. "Food insecurity as a determinant of international migration: evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 11(3), pages 515-530, June.
    10. Nicole M. Mason & Melinda Smale, 2013. "Impacts of subsidized hybrid seed on indicators of economic well-being among smallholder maize growers in Zambia," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 44(6), pages 659-670, November.
    11. Abebaw, Degnet & Fentie, Yibeltal & Kassa, Belay, 2010. "The impact of a food security program on household food consumption in Northwestern Ethiopia: A matching estimator approach," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 286-293, August.
    12. Maja Schling & Paul Winters, 2018. "Computer-Assisted Instruction for Child Development: Evidence from an Educational Programme in Rural Zambia," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(7), pages 1121-1136, July.
    13. Marc F. Bellemare & Christopher B. Barrett & David R. Just, 2013. "The Welfare Impacts of Commodity Price Volatility: Evidence from Rural Ethiopia," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 95(4), pages 877-899.
    14. Headey, Derek & Dereje, Mekdim & Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum, 2014. "Land constraints and agricultural intensification in Ethiopia: A village-level analysis of high-potential areas," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 129-141.
    15. Alan de Brauw & Tomoko Harigaya, 2007. "Seasonal Migration and Improving Living Standards in Vietnam," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 89(2), pages 430-447.
    16. Santos, Florence & Fletschner, Diana & Savath, Vivien & Peterman, Amber, 2013. "Can government-allocated land contribute to food security? Intrahousehold analysis of West Bengal’s microplot allocation program:," IFPRI discussion papers 1310, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    17. Macours, Karen & Vakis, Renos, 2010. "Seasonal Migration and Early Childhood Development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 857-869, June.
    18. Aiko Kikkawa & Tomoya Matsumoto & Keijiro Otsuka, 2019. "An Inquiry into the Heterogeneous Outcomes of International Migration: Evidence from Rural Households in Bangladesh," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(10), pages 2106-2128, October.
    19. Labonne, Julien & Chase, Robert S., 2011. "Do community-driven development projects enhance social capital? Evidence from the Philippines," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 348-358, November.
    20. Dzanku, Fred Mawunyo, 2019. "Food security in rural sub-Saharan Africa: Exploring the nexus between gender, geography and off-farm employment," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 26-43.
    21. Andre Croppenstedt & Mulat Demeke & Meloria M. Meschi, 2003. "Technology Adoption in the Presence of Constraints: the Case of Fertilizer Demand in Ethiopia," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 7(1), pages 58-70, February.
    22. Guido W. Imbens & Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, 2009. "Recent Developments in the Econometrics of Program Evaluation," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(1), pages 5-86, March.
    23. Mariapia Mendola, 2012. "Rural out‐migration and economic development at origin: A review of the evidence," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(1), pages 102-122, January.
    24. 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.
    25. Ani Rudra Silwal & Andy McKay, 2015. "The Impact of Cooking with Firewood on Respiratory Health: Evidence from Indonesia," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(12), pages 1619-1633, December.
    26. Rammohan, Anu & Pritchard, Bill, 2014. "The Role of Landholding as a Determinant of Food and Nutrition Insecurity in Rural Myanmar," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 597-608.
    27. Fransen, Sonja & Mazzucato, Valentina, 2014. "Remittances and Household Wealth after Conflict: A Case Study on Urban Burundi," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 57-68.
    28. 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.
    29. Santos, Florence & Fletschner, Diana & Savath, Vivien & Peterman, Amber, 2014. "Can Government-Allocated Land Contribute to Food Security? Intrahousehold Analysis of West Bengal’s Microplot Allocation Program," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 860-872.
    30. Bezu, Sosina & Holden, Stein, 2014. "Are Rural Youth in Ethiopia Abandoning Agriculture?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 259-272.
    31. Valerie Mueller & Cheryl Doss & Agnes Quisumbing, 2018. "Youth Migration and Labour Constraints in African Agrarian Households," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(5), pages 875-894, May.
    32. Mergo, Teferi, 2016. "The Effects of International Migration on Migrant-Source Households: Evidence from Ethiopian Diversity-Visa Lottery Migrants," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 69-81.
    33. Holden, Stein & Shiferaw, Bekele, 2004. "Land degradation, drought and food security in a less-favoured area in the Ethiopian highlands: a bio-economic model with market imperfections," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 31-49, January.
    34. Mendola, Mariapia & Carletto, Calogero, 2012. "Migration and gender differences in the home labour market: Evidence from Albania," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 870-880.
    35. Daniel O. Gilligan & John Hoddinott, 2007. "Is There Persistence in the Impact of Emergency Food Aid? Evidence on Consumption, Food Security, and Assets in Rural Ethiopia," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 89(2), pages 225-242.
    36. Nguyen, Minh Cong & Winters, Paul, 2011. "The impact of migration on food consumption patterns: The case of Vietnam," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 71-87, February.
    37. Richard Adams, 2011. "Evaluating the Economic Impact of International Remittances On Developing Countries Using Household Surveys: A Literature Review," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(6), pages 809-828.
    38. Nguyen, Loc Duc & Raabe, Katharina & Grote, Ulrike, 2015. "Rural–Urban Migration, Household Vulnerability, and Welfare in Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 79-93.
    39. Atamanov, Aziz & Van den Berg, Marrit, 2012. "Heterogeneous Effects of International Migration and Remittances on Crop Income: Evidence from the Kyrgyz Republic," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 620-630.
    40. 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.
    41. Shiferaw T. Feleke & Richard L. Kilmer & Christina H. Gladwin, 2005. "Determinants of food security in Southern Ethiopia at the household level," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 33(3), pages 351-363, November.
    42. Cuong Viet Nguyen & Marrit Van den Berg & Robert Lensink, 2011. "The impact of work and non‐work migration on household welfare, poverty and inequality," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 19(4), pages 771-799, October.
    43. John Gibson & David McKenzie & Steven Stillman, 2013. "Accounting for Selectivity and Duration-Dependent Heterogeneity When Estimating the Impact of Emigration on Incomes and Poverty in Sending Areas," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 61(2), pages 247-280.
    44. 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.
    45. Isabell Duda & Anja Fasse & Ulrike Grote, 2018. "Drivers of rural-urban migration and impact on food security in rural Tanzania," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 10(4), pages 785-798, August.
    46. Rudel, Thomas K., 2006. "After the labor migrants leave: The search for sustainable development in a sending region of the Ecuadorian Amazon," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 838-851, May.
    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. Fang, Lan & Fu, Yong & Chen, Shaojian & Mao, Hui, 2021. "Can water rights trading pilot policy ensure food security in China? Based on the difference-in-differences method," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 23(6), pages 1415-1434.
    2. Dula Etana & Denyse J. R. M. Snelder & Cornelia F. A. van Wesenbeeck & Tjard de Cock Buning, 2021. "The Impact of Adaptation to Climate Change and Variability on the Livelihood of Smallholder Farmers in Central Ethiopia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-21, June.
    3. Mora-Rivera, Jorge & van Gameren, Edwin, 2021. "The impact of remittances on food insecurity: Evidence from Mexico," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    4. Rajkumar, Vidya Bharathi, 2020. "Male Migration & Changing roles for Women in Agriculture in Rural India," 2020 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, Kansas City, Missouri 304629, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    5. Mengistu Dessalegn & Liza Debevec & Alan Nicol & Eva Ludi, 2023. "A Critical Examination of Rural Out-Migration Studies in Ethiopia: Considering Impacts on Agriculture in the Sending Communities," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-16, January.
    6. Vu, Khoa & Vuong, Nguyen Dinh Tuan & Vu-Thanh, Tu-Anh & Nguyen, Anh Ngoc, 2022. "Income shock and food insecurity prediction Vietnam under the pandemic," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    7. Mamoudou Ba, 2020. "Does livestock ownership affect food security? Evidence from rural Mauritania [La propriété du bétail a-t-elle une incidence sur la sécurité alimentaire ? Cas de la Mauritanie rurale]," Working Papers hal-03088715, HAL.

    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. Mora-Rivera, Jorge & van Gameren, Edwin, 2021. "The impact of remittances on food insecurity: Evidence from Mexico," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    2. Isabell Duda & Anja Fasse & Ulrike Grote, 2018. "Drivers of rural-urban migration and impact on food security in rural Tanzania," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 10(4), pages 785-798, August.
    3. 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.
    4. Nguyen, Duc Loc & Grote, Ulrike & Nguyen, Trung Thanh, 2019. "Migration, crop production and non-farm labor diversification in rural Vietnam," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 175-187.
    5. Nguyen Viet Cuong & Vu Hoang Linh, 2018. "The Impact of Migration and Remittances on Household Welfare: Evidence from Vietnam," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 945-963, November.
    6. Abebe, Meseret B. & Alem, Yonas, 2023. "Drought, Livestock Holding, and Milk Production: A Difference-in-Differences Analysis," EfD Discussion Paper 23-12, Environment for Development, University of Gothenburg.
    7. Donato Romano & Silvio Traverso, 2020. "Disentangling the Impact of International Migration on Food and Nutrition Security of Left-Behind Households: Evidence from Bangladesh," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 32(4), pages 783-811, September.
    8. Morgan, Peter J. & Trinh, Long Q., 2018. "Heterogeneous Effects of Migration on Child Welfare: Empirical Evidence from Viet Nam," ADBI Working Papers 835, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    9. Viet Nguyen, Cuong, 2016. "Does parental migration really benefit left-behind children? Comparative evidence from Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 230-239.
    10. 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.
    11. Marta Schoch, 2020. "Essays on political economy, inequality and development," Economics PhD Theses 0120, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School.
    12. Maren Radeny & Elizaphan J. O. Rao & Maurice Juma Ogada & John W. Recha & Dawit Solomon, 2022. "Impacts of climate-smart crop varieties and livestock breeds on the food security of smallholder farmers in Kenya," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 14(6), pages 1511-1535, December.
    13. Wondimagegn Tesfaye & Garrick Blalock & Nyasha Tirivayi, 2021. "Climate‐Smart Innovations and Rural Poverty in Ethiopia: Exploring Impacts and Pathways," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 103(3), pages 878-899, May.
    14. Abebayehu Girma Geffersa, 2024. "Does cooperative membership enhance inorganic fertilizer use intensity? Panel data evidence from maize farmers in Ethiopia," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 95(2), pages 327-361, June.
    15. Nguyen, Cuong Viet & Vu, Linh Hoang, 2014. "Should Parents Work Away from or Close to Home? The Effect of Temporary Parental Absence on Child Poverty and Children’s Time Use in Vietnam," MPRA Paper 52877, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. S. Chandrasekhar & Mousumi Das & Ajay Sharma, 2015. "Short-term Migration and Consumption Expenditure of Households in Rural India," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(1), pages 105-122, March.
    17. Rosemary E. Isoto & David S. Kraybill, 2017. "Remittances and household nutrition: evidence from rural Kilimanjaro in Tanzania," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 9(2), pages 239-253, April.
    18. Villegas, Laura & Smith, Vincent H. & Atwood, Joe & Belasco, Eric, 2016. "Does Participation In Public Works Programs Encourage Fertilizer Use In Rural Ethiopia?," International Journal of Food and Agricultural Economics (IJFAEC), Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University, Department of Economics and Finance, vol. 4(2), pages 1-24, April.
    19. Nguyen Viet Cuong & Daniel Mont, 2012. "Economic impacts of international migration and remittances on household welfare in Vietnam," International Journal of Development Issues, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 11(2), pages 144-163, June.
    20. Seidu, Ayuba & Onel, Gulcan & Moss, Charles B. & Seale, James L., 2016. "Do Off-farm Work and Remittances affect Food Consumption Patterns? Evidence from Albania," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235851, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

    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:eee:wdevel:v:129:y:2020:i:c:s0305750x2030005x. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    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.