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Migration Spillovers Within Families: Evidence from Thailand

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  • Travis Baseler

    (University of Rochester)

Abstract

When a person migrates, are their family members more likely to migrate too? I estimate the causal impact of family migrant network size on migration decisions using household survey data from rural Thailand. Large but temporary labor demand shocks in a nearby city—originating from a national infrastructure program—provide plausibly exogenous variation in family members' migration decisions based on their ages at the time of the program. Within a set of individuals too young to be directly impacted by the program, I find that each older family migrant increases their migration probability by about 5 percentage points. Further analysis suggests a role for better information about the destination in driving this impact. My findings imply that the short-run benefits of relieving migration constraints can underestimate the long-run benefits due to spillovers within the household. (Copyright: Elsevier)

Suggested Citation

  • Travis Baseler, 2025. "Migration Spillovers Within Families: Evidence from Thailand," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 55, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:red:issued:24-54
    DOI: 10.1016/j.red.2024.101255
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    migration; social networks; family migrants;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness

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