Effects of International Migration and Remittances on Child's Time Allocation: Evidence from Senegal

Type Journal Article
Title Effects of International Migration and Remittances on Child's Time Allocation: Evidence from Senegal
Author(s)
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2015
URL http://www.iza.org/conference_files/AMM_2015/cisse_f21812.pdf
Abstract
This paper examines on the repercussions of international migration and remittances on children’s time allocation in the Senegalese households at origin using the unique 2009 household survey on migration and remittances in Senegal. We focus on children of age 6 to 15 and distinguish three activities: school attendance, paid activities and non paid activities. We account for endogeneity and selection using the Propensity matching approach. To gain a better understanding of how family migration and remittance-receipt affect children’s activities, we follow the same strategy as Amuedo-Dorantes (2010) to separate the migration from the remittance effect. We find significant positive effect of remittances on children’s school attendance. Indeed the proportion of recipient children is 5.75 % points higher than the non-recipient counterpart. The remittances effect on paid activity is also positive but relatively weak and non-significant. In contrast remittances reduce non-paid activity significantly (-2.39% points). In contrast, international impacts negatively on school attendance by promoting for both paid and non-paid activity. According to the residence area, the results show that remittances’ effect promote school attendance whatever the area but the effects are higher in rural in comparison to urban area. These results are similar to those found in Ecuador (Calero and al. (2009)). The results suggest also a differential effect of remittance according the gender. The impact of remittances on activity is higher for boys in relation to girls. These results are in line with those found in Nepal (Vogel and Korinck, 2012; Bansach and Chezum, 2009). From a policy perspective, our results underscore the importance of distinguishing between the impacts of remittances and migration in policy making. Specifically, if the objective is to raise investments in children’s human capital, policies that aimed at increasing remittance flows (e.g., by lowering remitting costs or by offering matching funds) can prove particularly helpful for developing countries impacted with extensive out-migration.

Related studies

»