Hidden Income and the Perceived Returns to Migration

A-Tier
Journal: American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
Year: 2023
Volume: 15
Issue: 4
Pages: 321-52

Score contribution per author:

4.036 = (α=2.02 / 1 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

In many developing economies, urban workers earn substantially more than rural workers with the same level of education. Why don't more rural workers migrate to cities? I use two field experiments in Kenya to show that low migration is partly due to underestimation of urban incomes, which is sustained by income hiding by migrants. Parents at the origin underestimate their migrant children's incomes by nearly half, and underestimation is greater when a migrant's remittance obligations are high. Providing information about urban earnings increases migration to the capital city by about 40 percent over two years.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:aea:aejapp:v:15:y:2023:i:4:p:321-52
Journal Field
General
Author Count
1
Added to Database
2026-01-24