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Consumption and Leisure: The Welfare Impact of Migration on Family Left Behind

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  • Murard, Elie

    (University of Trento)

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of international migration on the welfare of family members left behind at the origin. Previous literature has produced inconclusive evidence, with some studies suggesting that migration reduces income poverty while others show that non-migrants bear a larger work burden to compensate for the loss of migrants' earnings. This paper provides a new unified framework that generates testable predictions of whether migration increases non-migrants' welfare in terms of both consumption and leisure time. Drawing on household panel data in rural Mexico, I find that migration increases non-migrants' consumption, but that this consumption gain cannot be explained by labor supply adjustments. Migration improves left-behinds' welfare through two different channels: (i) migrants' remittances exceed their forgone income contribution to the origin household; and (ii) the out-migration of a farmer increases the marginal productivity of agricultural labor for those left behind in the farm.

Suggested Citation

  • Murard, Elie, 2016. "Consumption and Leisure: The Welfare Impact of Migration on Family Left Behind," IZA Discussion Papers 10305, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10305
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    1. Lim, Sokchea & Morshed, A.K.M. Mahbub & Turnovsky, Stephen J., 2023. "Endogenous labor migration and remittances: Macroeconomic and welfare consequences," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    migration; labor supply; welfare; remittances; consumption; Mexico;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration

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