Internal migration and wellbeing

Literature shows that effect parental absence due to migration and death on child educational outcomes is mixed. Children whose parents are dead or absent for a long time have been found to perform poorly in school (Wright, 2010), while temporary migration seems to have adverse effect on aspiration for higher levels of education among children (Kandel and Kao, 2001). But evidence from Guatemala shows that remittance from migration enables households to spend more on education and reap better returns than non-remittance-receiving households (Adam, 2005), while paternal migration in early life of a daughter increases her educational attainment by a year in Mexico (Antman, 2012). These mixed results could be attributed to contextual factors such as state educational policies that mediate the effects of parental migration on child educational outcomes. I would like to argue that contextual factor such as state policy of free education can neutralise the effect of parental migration on child educational outcomes. Using discrete-time logit event history model on longitudinal data from Agincourt Health and Population Unit, South Africa, preliminary results show that state educational policy such as free education seems to neutralise the effect of parental labour migration on child educational outcomes among rural populations.

This study examines the association between internal migration and contraceptive use of households at origin, and the mediating effect of increased household income through remittances. The India Human Development Survey (2004-2005) is used to ascertain patterns of contraceptive use households with and without migrants. Overall, the experience of migration is critical: Households with a migrant have significantly higher contraceptive use than households without a migrant. Also, additional income is important: In low fertility regions (TFR at or less than 2.1), some remittance is associated with lower contraceptive use, while in intermediate fertility regions (TFR between 2.1 and 2.7), high remittance amount is associated with increased contraceptive use despite controlling for spousal absence. Family planning programs targeted at increasing contraceptive use among women must consider the importance of migration and diffusion of ideas in influencing contraceptive decisions. Future studies should account for potential influence of accumulated wealth, and how it manifests itself in family decisions regarding optimal family size.