IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/mil/wpdepa/2005-15.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Migration and technological change in rural households: complements or substitutes?

Author

Listed:
  • Mariapia MENDOLA

Abstract

In this paper we study the interrelationship between determinants of migration, conceived as a family strategy, and the potential impact of having a migrant household member on people left behind. Labour migration is often related to poverty but given its lumpy-investment nature, poverty may constitute a motivation to migrate as well as a constraint to do it. We use cross-sectional household data from two rural regions of Bangladesh to test whether migration is a form of income diversification strategy that significantly influences the risk-taking behaviour of source farm households in agricultural activities. We account for heterogeneity of migration constraints differentiating between domestic (temporary and permanent) and international moving destinations. We find that richer and large-holder households are more likely to participate in costly high-return migration (i. e. international migration) and employ modern technologies, thereby achieving higher productivity. Poorer households, on the other hand, are not able to overcome entry costs of moving abroad and fall back on migration with low entry costs, and low returns (i. e. domestic migration); the latter does not help them to achieve production enhancements and may act as a poverty-trap locking households into persistent poverty.

Suggested Citation

  • Mariapia MENDOLA, 2005. "Migration and technological change in rural households: complements or substitutes?," Departmental Working Papers 2005-15, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    • Handle: RePEc:mil:wpdepa:2005-15
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://wp.demm.unimi.it/files/wp/2005/DEMM-2005_015wp.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Morduch, Jonathan, 1994. "Poverty and Vulnerability," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(2), pages 221-225, May.
    2. Newey, Whitney K., 1987. "Efficient estimation of limited dependent variable models with endogenous explanatory variables," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 231-250, November.
    3. Dercon, Stefan, 1996. "Risk, Crop Choice, and Savings: Evidence from Tanzania," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 44(3), pages 485-513, April.
    4. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:15:y:2002:i:7:p:1-5 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Eswaran, Mukesh & Kotwal, Ashok, 1986. "Access to Capital and Agrarian Production Organisation," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 96(382), pages 482-498, June.
    6. Heckman, James J, 1978. "Dummy Endogenous Variables in a Simultaneous Equation System," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(4), pages 931-959, July.
    7. Angrist, Joshua D, 2001. "Estimations of Limited Dependent Variable Models with Dummy Endogenous Regressors: Simple Strategies for Empirical Practice," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 19(1), pages 2-16, January.
    8. Banerjee, Abhijit V & Newman, Andrew F, 1993. "Occupational Choice and the Process of Development," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(2), pages 274-298, April.
    9. Stark, Oded, 1978. "Economic-Demographic Interactions in Agricultural Development: The Case of Rural-to-Urban Migration," EconStor Books, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, volume 6, number 232285, March.
    10. Amemiya, Takeshi, 1978. "The Estimation of a Simultaneous Equation Generalized Probit Model," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(5), pages 1193-1205, September.
    11. de la Briere, Benedicte & de Janvry, Alain & Lambert, Sylvie & Sadoulet, Elisabeth, 1997. "Why do migrants remit?," FCND discussion papers 37, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    12. Katz, Eliakim & Stark, Oded, 1986. "Labor Migration and Risk Aversion in Less Developed Countries," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 4(1), pages 134-149, January.
    13. Mohammad Alauddin & Clem Tisdell, 1988. "Patterns and Determinants of Adoption of High Yielding Varieties: Farm-level Evidence from Bangladesh," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 27(2), pages 183-210.
    14. Eswaran, Mukesh & Kotwal, Ashok, 1989. "Credit as insurance in agrarian economies," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 37-53, July.
    15. Stefan Dercon, 2002. "Income Risk, Coping Strategies, and Safety Nets," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 17(2), pages 141-166, September.
    16. Mark M. Pitt & Shahidur R. Khandker, 1998. "The Impact of Group-Based Credit Programs on Poor Households in Bangladesh: Does the Gender of Participants Matter?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(5), pages 958-996, October.
    17. Hillel Rapoport, 2002. "Migration, credit constraints and self-employment: A simple model of occupational choice, inequality and growth," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 15(7), pages 1-5.
    18. Mariapia MENDOLA, 2005. "Agricultural technology and poverty reduction: a micro-level analysis of causal effects," Departmental Working Papers 2005-14, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    19. Rosenzweig, Mark R, 1988. "Risk, Implicit Contracts and the Family in Rural Areas of Low-income Countries," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 98(393), pages 1148-1170, December.
    20. Stark, Oded & Levhari, David, 1982. "On Migration and Risk in LDCs," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 31(1), pages 191-196, October.
    21. Adams, Richard H., Jr., 1991. "The effects of international remittances on poverty, inequality, and development in rural Egypt:," Research reports 86, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    22. Cox, Donald & Eser, Zekeriya & Jimenez, Emmanuel, 1998. "Motives for private transfers over the life cycle: An analytical framework and evidence for Peru," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 57-80, February.
    23. Randall S. Kuhn, 2000. "The Logic of Letting Go: Family and Individual Migration from Rural Bangladesh," Working Papers 00-09, RAND Corporation.
    24. Lucas, Robert E.B., 1997. "Internal migration in developing countries," Handbook of Population and Family Economics, in: M. R. Rosenzweig & Stark, O. (ed.), Handbook of Population and Family Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 13, pages 721-798, Elsevier.
    25. Rosenzweig, Mark R & Stark, Oded, 1989. "Consumption Smoothing, Migration, and Marriage: Evidence from Rural India," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(4), pages 905-926, August.
    26. Eswaran, Mukesh & Kotwal, Ashok, 1990. "Implications of Credit Constraints for Risk Behaviour in Less Developed Economies," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 42(2), pages 473-482, April.
    27. Kuhn, R.S., 2000. "The Logic of Letting Go: Family and Individual Migration from Rural Bangladesh," Papers 00-09, RAND - Labor and Population Program.
    28. 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.
    29. Angrist, Joshua D, 2001. "Estimations of Limited Dependent Variable Models with Dummy Endogenous Regressors: Simple Strategies for Empirical Practice: Reply," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 19(1), pages 27-28, January.
    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. Matthieu Delpierre & Bertrand Verheyden, 2014. "Remittances, savings and return migration under uncertainty," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 3(1), pages 1-43, December.
    2. Francesca Marchetta, 2008. "Migration and non farm activities as income diversification strategies: the case of Northern Ghana," Working Papers - Economics wp2008_16.rdf, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze per l'Economia e l'Impresa.
    3. Mariapia MENDOLA, 2005. "Farm households production theories: a review of institutional and behavioural responses," Departmental Working Papers 2005-01, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    4. Mariapia Mendola, 2006. "Production Choices of Farm Households: Institutional and Behaviourial Aspects in Economic Theory," QA - Rivista dell'Associazione Rossi-Doria, Associazione Rossi Doria, issue 2, May.
    5. Hernandez-Hernandez, Emilio & Sam, Abdoul G. & Gonzalez-Vega, Claudio & Chen, Joyce J., 2012. "Does the insurance effect of public and private transfers favor financial deepening? evidence from rural Nicaragua," MPRA Paper 38339, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Guido Friebel & Juan Gallego & Mariapia Mendola, 2013. "Xenophobic attacks, migration intentions, and networks: evidence from the South of Africa," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 26(2), pages 555-591, April.
    7. Nancy McCarthy & Gero Carletto & Benjamin Davis & Irini Maltsoglou, 2006. "Assessing the Impact of Massive Out-Migration on Agriculture," Working Papers 06-14, Agricultural and Development Economics Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO - ESA).

    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. Mariapia Mendola, 2004. "Migration and Technological Change in Rural Households: Complements or Substitutes?," Development Working Papers 195, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano.
    2. Mendola, Mariapia, 2008. "Migration and technological change in rural households: Complements or substitutes?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(1-2), pages 150-175, February.
    3. Rapoport, Hillel & Docquier, Frederic, 2006. "The Economics of Migrants' Remittances," Handbook on the Economics of Giving, Reciprocity and Altruism, in: S. Kolm & Jean Mercier Ythier (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Giving, Altruism and Reciprocity, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 17, pages 1135-1198, Elsevier.
    4. Mariapia MENDOLA, 2005. "Farm households production theories: a review of institutional and behavioural responses," Departmental Working Papers 2005-01, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    5. Jacob N. Arendt, 2002. "Endogeneity and Heterogeneity in LDV Panel Data Models," 10th International Conference on Panel Data, Berlin, July 5-6, 2002 D6-1, International Conferences on Panel Data.
    6. Shonchoy, Abu S., 2011. "Seasonal migration and micro-credit in the lean period : evidence from northwest Bangladesh," IDE Discussion Papers 294, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
    7. Nguyen, Kim Anh Thi & Jolly, Curtis M. & Nguelifack, Brice Merlin, 2018. "Biodiversity, coastal protection and resource endowment: Policy options for improving ocean health," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 242-264.
    8. Flore Gubert, 2002. "Do Migrants Insure Those who Stay Behind? Evidence from the Kayes Area (Western Mali)," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(3), pages 267-287.
    9. Mobarak, A. Mushfiq & Rosenzweig, Mark R., 2012. "Selling formal Insurance to the Informally Insured," Center Discussion Papers 121671, Yale University, Economic Growth Center.
    10. 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.
    11. Hagen-Zanker, Jessica, 2010. "Modest expectations: Causes and effects of migration on migrant households in source countries," MPRA Paper 29507, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Harold Alderman & Christina H. Paxson, 1994. "Do the Poor Insure? A Synthesis of the Literature on Risk and Consumption in Developing Countries," International Economic Association Series, in: Edmar L. Bacha (ed.), Economics in a Changing World, chapter 3, pages 48-78, Palgrave Macmillan.
    13. Zimmerman, Frederick J. & Carter, Michael R., 2003. "Asset smoothing, consumption smoothing and the reproduction of inequality under risk and subsistence constraints," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 233-260, August.
    14. Besley, Timothy, 1995. "Savings, credit and insurance," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Hollis Chenery & T.N. Srinivasan (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 36, pages 2123-2207, Elsevier.
    15. Akgüç, Mehtap & Liu, Xingfei & Tani, Massimiliano & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 2016. "Risk attitudes and migration," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 166-176.
    16. Stefan Dercon, 2002. "Income Risk, Coping Strategies, and Safety Nets," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 17(2), pages 141-166, September.
    17. Piacentini, Mario, 2008. "Migration Enclaves, Schooling Choices and Social Mobility," MPRA Paper 8376, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pb:p:2859-2939 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Mariapia MENDOLA, 2005. "Agricultural technology and poverty reduction: a micro-level analysis of causal effects," Departmental Working Papers 2005-14, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    20. Xin Meng & Chris Manning & Li Shi & Tadjuddin Nur Effendi (ed.), 2010. "The Great Migration," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13619.
    21. Dercon, Stefan, 1998. "Wealth, risk and activity choice: cattle in Western Tanzania," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 1-42, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Internal and International Migration; Farm Household Behaviour; Agricultural Production Choices.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • Q12 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:mil:wpdepa:2005-15. 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: DEMM Working Papers (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/damilit.html .

    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.