The effects of migration on child health in Mexico

Nicole Hildebrandt and David McKenzie

No 3573, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: The authors investigate the impact of international migration on child health outcomes in rural Mexico using a nationally representative demographic survey. They use historic migration networks as instruments for current household migration to the United States in order to correct for the possible endogeneity of migrant status. They find that children in migrant households have lower rates of infant mortality and higher birth-weights. The authors study the channels through which migration may affect health outcomes and find evidence that migration raises health knowledge in addition to the direct effect on wealth. However they also find that preventative health care, such as breastfeeding and vaccinations, is less likely for children in migrant households. These results provide a broader and more nuanced view of the health consequences of migration than is offered by the existing literature.

Keywords: Health Monitoring&Evaluation; Health Systems Development&Reform; Health Economics&Finance; Anthropology; Housing&Human Habitats (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005-04-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev and nep-hea
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (198)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSC ... ered/PDF/wps3573.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: The Effects of Migration on Child Health in Mexico (2005)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3573

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20433. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Roula I. Yazigi ().