Split Decisions: Household Finance When a Policy Discontinuity Allocates Overseas Work

A-Tier
Journal: Review of Economics and Statistics
Year: 2017
Volume: 99
Issue: 3
Pages: 531-543

Authors (2)

Michael A. Clemens (George Mason University) Erwin R. Tiongson (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

2.018 = (α=2.02 / 2 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

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

Abstract

Temporary overseas work can both raise a family's income and split the household geographically, with theoretically ambiguous net effects on spending, finance, and labor supply decisions. We study a policy discontinuity in the Philippines that quasi-randomly assigned temporary, partial-household migration for high-wage jobs inKorea. This allows quasiexperimental estimates of reduced-form effects of migration. We find that migration causes large changes in households' spending and saving—not only through remittances but also migration-induced shifts in household decision-making power. Migration does not reduce labor supply by nonmigrants. Common nonexperimental estimators would have been subject to substantial selection bias in this setting.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:tpr:restat:v:99:y:2017:i:3:p:531-543
Journal Field
General
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-25