Migration and wellbeing: new evidence from Bangladesh

Migration is no doubt an increasingly significant driver of contemporary social transformation of the family in source communities. People seek to migrate to improve their own as well as their left-behind family’s lives. This study is set out to explore the consequences of migration for left-behind women, children and parents in rural Bangladesh using household survey data from 2011–12 and 2015, using a linear probability model with fixed-effects and then estimates instrumental variable (IV) regression model to control for the possible endogeneity of migration and remittances. The first empirical chapter examines women’s bargaining power within household affected by migration of other household members. The results suggest that migration leads to improvements in bargaining power of left-behind women, decreasing some constraints of mobility, and decision-making for production activities. The second empirical chapter investigates the effects of remittances and migration on the school dropout rate of left-behind children. The findings show that children from remittance-receiving households are less likely to drop out of school, while parental migration has substantial disruptive effects. The third chapter investigates the impact of remittances on health status of parents left in the sending communities. The results find healthcare to be a necessary, with a significant decline in its income elasticity with respect to remittance for left-behind parents from remittance-receiving households. All three studies make a methodological contribution with novel ways of measuring wellbeing while producing practical policy implications include improving women’s power dynamics, increasing access to education and investing in the public health system to make it accessible for all.