Migration, Financial Constraints, and Entrepreneurship: Evidence from Mexico (job market paper) [pdf]
There has been evidence on the entrepreneurial behavior of migrants in receiving countries or after they return to home countries, but little research on the entrepreneurship of left-behind persons when migrants are still abroad. Using data from the Mexican Family Life Survey, this paper examines the effects of ongoing migration on the entrepreneurship of left-behind family members. Striking evidence shows that migration stimulates the entrepreneurship of left-behind members through improved financial status. The preferred estimates indicate that having migrant family members increases an individual’s rate of participation in entrepreneurship by at least 50% relative to the mean. The analysis also demonstrates the differential migration effects and differential motives pertinent to becoming new entrepreneurs by gender. These findings have profound implications for the empowerment of women and how public policies such as microcredit may promote entrepreneurship through the relaxation of financial constraints.
Mexico-to-U.S. Migration and the Time Use of Left-Behind Family Members (with Elizabeth T. Powers) [pdf]
Migration for economic opportunity may both benefit and burden left-behind family members. Time-use data from the Mexican Family Life Survey are used to analyze the effect of Mexico-to-U.S. migration of a family’s father, adult son, or adult daughter on the activities of left-behind mothers and children. In particular, we examine how migration affects the mother-child and brother-sister distributions of time in market work, agricultural work, home production, caregiving, and leisure, as well as the boy-girl allocation of formal education time. Controlling for unobserved heterogeneity and endogenous migration, we find robust evidence of strong shifts in the allocations of time spent in formal education across similarly aged boy-girl pairs and in housework between mothers and daughters in association with migration. The findings may help policymarkers to evaluate the benefit and burden of international migration along the time use dimension that has been relatively understudied.
Male Migration and Female Labor Force Participation: New Evidence from the Mexican Family Life Survey (under review) [link]
This paper examines the impact of male migration to the U.S. on female labor market outcomes in Mexico. To understand intrahoushold bargaining and labor reallocation, I restrict my attention to wives left behind by male migrants. This paper differentiates among domestic migration, cross-border migration, and other types of absence, accounting for their differential effects. The nonmigration absence of the husband tends to increase female labor supply in almost all types of income-generating activities. In contrast, women from migrant-sending families are more likely to participate in unpaid work, but less likely to participate in paid work. Similar findings hold for work hours. The overrepresentation of females in unpaid work associated with male migration may threaten the economic wellbeing of women if it leads to weaker labor market attachment and less bargaining power within the family.
Child Gender, Parental Labor Market Outcomes, and Intergenerational Transfer of Childcare (available upon request) [email me]
This paper provides new evidence of the effects of child gender on parental labor supply and earnings in a developing country. Using the longitudinal data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey, I document a son premium in labor supply that is conditional on child’s age. Parents with a 0-6-year old son have a higher labor supply than parents with a daughter in the same age group. The son premium disappears when children reach school age. A further examination indicates that the caregiving from paternal grandparents induces the son premium. Grandparents are more likely to provide caregiving for a grandson than granddaughter, which allows parents with a preschool-age son to work more. The intensification of market work associated with having a son may lead to differential parental investments of time and money in preschool boys and girls and differences in cognitive ability, education, and other measures of child's wellbeing.
Does Public Insurance Weaken Family Ties?
During the last decade, the Chinese government implemented a nationwide public health program to provide low-cost basic health care services to rural residents. This program should have been a great benefit to the elderly since they were less likely to have any medical insurance before the reform but have higher demand for medical care. The expansion of basic health insurance may disrupt traditional family ties by reducing the financial dependence of the elderly on their adult children. The paper investigates the impact of this exogenous change in the accessibility of basic medical insurance and the rapid development of the rural public health system in China on family ties, as measured by informal transfers of money, in-kind, and caregiving within the family.
There has been evidence on the entrepreneurial behavior of migrants in receiving countries or after they return to home countries, but little research on the entrepreneurship of left-behind persons when migrants are still abroad. Using data from the Mexican Family Life Survey, this paper examines the effects of ongoing migration on the entrepreneurship of left-behind family members. Striking evidence shows that migration stimulates the entrepreneurship of left-behind members through improved financial status. The preferred estimates indicate that having migrant family members increases an individual’s rate of participation in entrepreneurship by at least 50% relative to the mean. The analysis also demonstrates the differential migration effects and differential motives pertinent to becoming new entrepreneurs by gender. These findings have profound implications for the empowerment of women and how public policies such as microcredit may promote entrepreneurship through the relaxation of financial constraints.
Mexico-to-U.S. Migration and the Time Use of Left-Behind Family Members (with Elizabeth T. Powers) [pdf]
Migration for economic opportunity may both benefit and burden left-behind family members. Time-use data from the Mexican Family Life Survey are used to analyze the effect of Mexico-to-U.S. migration of a family’s father, adult son, or adult daughter on the activities of left-behind mothers and children. In particular, we examine how migration affects the mother-child and brother-sister distributions of time in market work, agricultural work, home production, caregiving, and leisure, as well as the boy-girl allocation of formal education time. Controlling for unobserved heterogeneity and endogenous migration, we find robust evidence of strong shifts in the allocations of time spent in formal education across similarly aged boy-girl pairs and in housework between mothers and daughters in association with migration. The findings may help policymarkers to evaluate the benefit and burden of international migration along the time use dimension that has been relatively understudied.
Male Migration and Female Labor Force Participation: New Evidence from the Mexican Family Life Survey (under review) [link]
This paper examines the impact of male migration to the U.S. on female labor market outcomes in Mexico. To understand intrahoushold bargaining and labor reallocation, I restrict my attention to wives left behind by male migrants. This paper differentiates among domestic migration, cross-border migration, and other types of absence, accounting for their differential effects. The nonmigration absence of the husband tends to increase female labor supply in almost all types of income-generating activities. In contrast, women from migrant-sending families are more likely to participate in unpaid work, but less likely to participate in paid work. Similar findings hold for work hours. The overrepresentation of females in unpaid work associated with male migration may threaten the economic wellbeing of women if it leads to weaker labor market attachment and less bargaining power within the family.
Child Gender, Parental Labor Market Outcomes, and Intergenerational Transfer of Childcare (available upon request) [email me]
This paper provides new evidence of the effects of child gender on parental labor supply and earnings in a developing country. Using the longitudinal data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey, I document a son premium in labor supply that is conditional on child’s age. Parents with a 0-6-year old son have a higher labor supply than parents with a daughter in the same age group. The son premium disappears when children reach school age. A further examination indicates that the caregiving from paternal grandparents induces the son premium. Grandparents are more likely to provide caregiving for a grandson than granddaughter, which allows parents with a preschool-age son to work more. The intensification of market work associated with having a son may lead to differential parental investments of time and money in preschool boys and girls and differences in cognitive ability, education, and other measures of child's wellbeing.
Does Public Insurance Weaken Family Ties?
During the last decade, the Chinese government implemented a nationwide public health program to provide low-cost basic health care services to rural residents. This program should have been a great benefit to the elderly since they were less likely to have any medical insurance before the reform but have higher demand for medical care. The expansion of basic health insurance may disrupt traditional family ties by reducing the financial dependence of the elderly on their adult children. The paper investigates the impact of this exogenous change in the accessibility of basic medical insurance and the rapid development of the rural public health system in China on family ties, as measured by informal transfers of money, in-kind, and caregiving within the family.