The Development Impact of a Best Practice Seasonal Worker Policy

John Gibson and David McKenzie

The Review of Economics and Statistics, 2014, vol. 96, issue 2, 229-243

Abstract: Seasonal migration programs are widely used around the world, yet there is little evidence as to their development impacts. A multiyear prospective evaluation of New Zealand's Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) seasonal worker program allows us to measure the impact of participating in this program on households in Tonga and Vanuatu. Using a propensity-score prescreened difference-in-differences analysis based on surveys fielded before, during, and after participation, we find that the RSE has indeed had positive development impacts that dwarf those of other popular development interventions. It has increased income, consumption, and savings of households; durable goods ownership; and subjective standard of living. The results also suggest that child schooling improved in Tonga. © 2014 The World Bank

Keywords: seasonal migration; matched difference-in-differences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F22 J61 O12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (65)

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Working Paper: The Development Impact of a Best Practice Seasonal Worker Policy (2010)
Working Paper: The development impact of a best practice seasonal worker policy (2010)
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