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Children and Maternal Migration: Evidence from Exogenous Variations in Family Size

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  • Sarma, Vengadeshvaran
  • Parinduri, Rasyad

Abstract

Both theoretically and empirically, childbearing decreases labour supply of females, but few papers examine the effect of children on whether women emigrate to work. Using exogenous variations in family size induced by parents’ preferences for mixed sibling-sex composition in instrumental variable estimations, we find that, in Sri Lanka where most migrants are women and mothers, children decrease labour participation of females in the domestic market but they increase the likelihood of females working abroad.

Suggested Citation

  • Sarma, Vengadeshvaran & Parinduri, Rasyad, 2014. "Children and Maternal Migration: Evidence from Exogenous Variations in Family Size," MPRA Paper 56283, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:56283
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cruces, Guillermo & Galiani, Sebastian, 2007. "Fertility and female labor supply in Latin America: New causal evidence," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 565-573, June.
    2. Prema-chandra Athukorala, 1990. "International Contract Migration And The Reintegration of Return Migrants, The Experience of Sri Lanka," Working Papers 1990.09, School of Economics, La Trobe University.
    3. Baez, Javier E., 2008. "Does More Mean Better? Sibling Sex Composition and the Link between Family Size and Children’s Quality," IZA Discussion Papers 3472, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Cited by:

    1. Massimiliano Bratti & Simona Fiore & Mariapia Mendola, 2020. "The impact of family size and sibling structure on the great Mexico–USA migration," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(2), pages 483-529, April.
    2. Sarma, Vengadeshvaran & Parinduri, Rasyad, 2014. "Married men with children may stop working when their wives emigrate to work: Evidence from Sri Lanka," MPRA Paper 60752, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Cuong Nguyen & Anh Tran, 2020. "Are children an incentive or a disincentive for migration? Evidence from Vietnam," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(3), pages 467-485, July.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    maternal migration; childbearing; Sri Lanka;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

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