Amol Kapil, Trinity College Dublin
Anayat Gill, Centre for Research In Rural And Industrial development
Migration plays a pivotal role in India, presenting both opportunities and challenges for growth. The study analyses the effects of migration on left-behind households in India using the Indian Human Development Survey (IHDS) dataset for the periods 2004-05 and 2011-12. The empirical approach follows a Differences in Differences fixed effects regression to assess the impact of migration on household expenditure, income, assets, debt, and education level. The findings reveal that migration significantly enhances total household expenditure, reflecting improved living standards due to the inflow of remittances. The category wise analysis showed that migration positively impacts food, non-food, and energy expenditures of the households. However, the impact of migration on education expenditure is negative and health expenditure is insignificant. This suggests that households may prioritize short-term economic needs over long-term investments in human capital. Additionally, the increase in household debt among migrant households’ points to the high financial costs associated with migration, which can impose significant economic burdens. It is evident from the analysis that migration positively impacts households’ income while its impact on asset accumulation is insignificant. However, the probit regression analysis indicates significant and negative impact of migration on poverty, demonstrating the crucial role of migration in poverty alleviation.
Keywords: Internal Migration and Urbanization, Longitudinal studies , Population and Development
Presented in Session 152. Internal Migration and Socio-Economic Inequalities