Published in the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2021.
Rapid urbanization is reshaping economies and intensifying spatial inequalities. In Bangladesh, we experimentally introduced mobile banking to very poor rural households and family members who had migrated to the city, testing whether mobile technology can reduce inequality by modernizing traditional ways to transfer money. One year later, for active mobile banking users, urban-to-rural remit- tances increased by 26 percent of the baseline mean. Rural con- sumption increased by 7.5 percent, and extreme poverty fell. Rural households borrowed less, saved more, sent additional migrants, and consumed more in the lean season. Urban migrants experienced less poverty and saved more but bore costs, reporting worse health.
Publications
Viewing all posts with tag: Migration
Migration and the Diffusion of Covid-19 in South Asia
The initial spread of COVID-19 halted economic activity as countries around the world restricted the mobility of their citizens. As a result, many migrant workers returned home, spreading the virus across borders. We investigate the relationship between migrant movements and the spread of COVID-19 using district-day-level data from Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan (the 1st, 6th, and 7th largest sources of international migrant workers). We find that during the initial stage of the pandemic, a 1 SD increase in prior international out-migration relative to the district-wise average in India and Pakistan predicts a 48% increase in the number of cases per capita. In Bangladesh, however, the estimates are not statistically distinguishable from zero. Domestic out-migration predicts COVID-19 diffusion in India, but not in Bangladesh and Pakistan. In all three countries, the association of COVID-19 cases per capita and measures of international out-migration increases over time. The results show how migration data can be used to predict coronavirus hotspots. More broadly, the results are consistent with large cross-border negative externalities created by policies aimed at containing the spread of COVID-19 in migrant-receiving countries.
COVID-19 and the Future of Microfinance: Evidence and Insights from Pakistan
The initial spread of COVID-19 halted economic activity as countries around the world restricted the mobility of their citizens. As a result, many migrant workers returned home, spreading the virus across borders. We investigate the relationship between migrant movements and the spread of COVID-19 using district-day-level data from Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan (the 1st, 6th, and 7th largest sources of international migrant workers). We find that during the initial stage of the pandemic, a 1 SD increase in prior international out-migration relative to the district-wise average in India and Pakistan predicts a 48% increase in the number of cases per capita. In Bangladesh, however, the estimates are not statistically distinguishable from zero. Domestic out-migration predicts COVID-19 diffusion in India, but not in Bangladesh and Pakistan. In all three countries, the association of COVID-19 cases per capita and measures of international out-migration increases over time. The results show how migration data can be used to predict coronavirus hotspots. More broadly, the results are consistent with large cross-border negative externalities created by policies aimed at containing the spread of COVID-19 in migrant-receiving countries.
Can Migration Patterns Help Predict the Spread of COVID-19 in South Asia?
Within one week in March, the lockdowns ordered by South Asian governments to combat the COVID pandemic dramatically reversed rural-to-urban migrant flows. Our team’s early analysis shows that migration patterns may help predict the location of COVID outbreaks.
Migration and Household Finances: How a different framing can improve thinking about migration
It is time to reframe fundamentally the research agenda on migration, remittances, payments and development. Many policy‐makers in the developing world, and researchers, tend to view migrant remittances as windfall income, rather than as returns on investment, which is how families with migrants tend see remittances. Migration is thus, among other things, a strategy for financial management in poor households: location is an asset, migration an investment. We propose that this shift of perspective on remittances—from windfall to return on investment—leads to more fruitful research questions.
What's Behind Door #3? Investment in Migration for the World's Poor
What accounts for the determination of migrants to make it across borders, braving incredibly harrowing journeys by train, boat and foot? For many people around the world, migration is the very best investment they can make.
Michael Clemens: Migration and Remittances Part 3
FAI's Tim Ogden and Michael Clemens, Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development (CGD) and visiting scholar at NYU-Wagner, recently published a Framing Note discussing new research approaches on the role of migration and remittances in household financial management.
Michael Clemens: Migration and Remittances Part 2
FAI's Tim Ogden and Michael Clemens, Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development (CGD) and visiting scholar at NYU-Wagner, recently published a Framing Note discussing new research approaches on the role of migration and remittances in household financial management.
Michael Clemens: Migration and Remittances Part 1
FAI's Tim Ogden and Michael Clemens, Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development (CGD) and visiting scholar at NYU-Wagner, recently published a Framing Note discussing new research approaches on the role of migration and remittances in household financial management.