Returns to International Migration: Evidence from a Bangladesh-Malaysia Visa Lottery

Ahmed Mobarak, Iffath Sharif and Maheshwor Shrestha

No 15990, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: We follow 3,512 (of 1.4 million) applicants to a government lottery that randomly allocated visas to Bangladeshis for low-skilled, temporary labor contracts in Malaysia. Most lottery winners migrate, and their remittance substantially raises their family’s standard of living in Bangladesh. The migrant’s absence pauses demographic changes (marriage, childbirth, household formation), and shifts decision-making power towards females. Migration removes enterprising individuals, lowering household entrepreneurship, but does not crowd out other family members’ labor supply. One group of applicants were offered deferred migration that never materialized. Improved migration prospects induce pre-migration investments in skills that generate no returns in the domestic market.

Keywords: Government-intermediated; international; migration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F22 O12 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-03
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Working Paper: Returns to International Migration: Evidence from a Bangladesh-Malaysia Visa Lottery (2021)
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