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The Effect of Parental Migration on the Schooling of Children Left Behind in Rural Cambodia

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  • Francesca Marchetta Author-Name: Sokcheng Sim

Abstract

Growing rural-to-urban and international migration flows have sparked concerns about investments in the education of left-behind children in Cambodia. We drew on a panel household-level survey conducted in rural villages in 2014 and 2017 to analyze the relationship between parental migration and schooling of children. The analysis revealed that children of migrant parents lag significantly behind in terms of years of completed schooling. We used the longitudinal dimension of the data to estimate a placebo test, which greatly reduced concerns related to the possible confounding effect of unobserved heterogeneity. The negative effect that we uncovered appeared to be driven largely by reduced parental input in children’s education rather than by an increase in child labor.

Suggested Citation

  • Francesca Marchetta Author-Name: Sokcheng Sim, 2020. "The Effect of Parental Migration on the Schooling of Children Left Behind in Rural Cambodia," Working Papers PMMA 2020-18, PEP-PMMA.
    • Handle: RePEc:lvl:pmmacr:2020-18
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cambodia; parental migration; remittances; education; children’s schooling;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population
    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development

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