No abstract

What is the impact of male migration on the labor market behavior of women in Nepal? The instrumental variable full information maximum likelihood method is applied to data from the 2004 Nepal Household Survey to account for unobserved factors that could simultaneously affect men's decision to migrate and women's decision to participate in the labor market. The results indicate that male migration has a negative impact on the level of the labor market participation by women in the migrant-sending household. There is evidence of substantial heterogeneity (based on both observable and unobservable characteristics) in the impact of male migration. The findings highlight the important gender dimension of the impact of predominantly male migration on the well-being of sending households. Strategies for economic development in Nepal should take into account such gender aspects of the migration dynamics. JEL codes: O15, J21 A sharp increase in migration worldwide has fueled debate on the costs and benefits of international migration for sending communities (UNDP 2002). Remittances are considered a key means through which migration affects economic growth. Most microeconomic studies of migration and remittances focus on their role in reducing poverty and economic inequality. The impact of migration on the economic behavior of nonmigrating household members receives relatively little attention (Kanaiaupuni 2000). Most research on the issue is sociological and demographic and finds that women spend more time working on home farms at least in part because of male migration (Crummet 1987; Deere and Leon de Leal 1987). Among the few economic studies of the labor market outcomes of members of households sending migrants, Funkhouser (1992) examines the effects of migration and remittances on the female labor market participation in Nicaragua. Itzigsohn

No abstract

Using two rounds of nationally representative household survey data, in this study, we measure the impact on poverty in Nepal of local and international migration for work. We apply an instrumental variable approach to deal with nonrandom selection of migrants and simulate various scenarios for the different levels of work-related migration, comparing observed and counterfactual household expenditure distribution. Our results indicate that one-fifth of the poverty reduction in Nepal occurring between 1995 and 2004 can be attributed to higher levels of work-related migration and remittances sent home. We also show that while the increase in international work-related migration was the leading cause of this poverty reduction, domestic migration also played an important role. Our findings demonstrate that strategies for economic growth and poverty reduction in Nepal should consider aspects of the dynamics of domestic and international migration.

No abstract