Publication: Internal Migration and Household Consumption in Ghana
Loading...
Files in English
402 downloads
Published
2015-10
ISSN
Date
2015-10-07
Author(s)
Pavelesku, Dan
Editor(s)
Abstract
Over the past two decades Ghana has seen a rapid increase in internal migration. Census data show that internal migration increased from 38.6 percent to 43.3 percent between 2000 and 2010. According to the latest Ghana Living Standard Survey (GLSS) 2012/13, half of the migrants surveyed had migrated after 2003.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Pavelesku, Dan; Ranzani, Marco. 2015. Internal Migration and Household Consumption in Ghana. Ghana in Brief;. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/22728 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Should I Stay or Should I Go?(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-07)This papers investigates to what extent internal migration contributes to improving households' welfare in Ghana. Using the most recent and nationally representative household survey (Ghana Living Standards Survey 2012/13), the estimates indicate that on average migration increases consumption significantly, and the effect is driven by households migrating from inland regions to the coastal areas of the country. The analysis also finds heterogeneous effects by gender and educational attainment, with migrant households headed by males and highly educated individuals faring significantly better than migrant households headed by females and low-educated individuals. The paper shows convincing evidence that the positive impact of migration on consumption is attributable to a physical mobility effect rather than changes in labor force status or sector of economic activity. However, the migration process in Ghana has important downsides, such as the brain drain and disruption of the social fabric in the communities originating migration. Future research in this area is warranted to have a more comprehensive picture of the social impact of migration in Ghana.Publication Living Standards of Tunisian Households in the Midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-03)The COVID-19 pandemic has had unprecedented negative socioeconomic effects on the lives of millions of people across the world, particularly among the most vulnerable groups. The COVID-19 outbreak has exacerbated the issues countries were facing before the pandemic such as the unequal access to basic services, markets, labor, and capital. Using five rounds of high-frequency telephone surveys collected by the Tunisian National Institute of Statistics in collaboration with the World Bank, this paper analyzes the deterioration in households’ welfare due to COVID-19, focusing on changes in the labor market. The results show that although employment has now rebounded to pre-crisis levels among the respondents, labor income among wage workers and particularly the self-employed is still below pre-pandemic levels. More than half of the households interviewed report a worsening of their living standards relative to before the start of the pandemic, and for about 40 percent of the poorest, welfare levels have continued to deteriorate. In addition, price increases and a reduction in remittances threaten to undo the progress that has been achieved in raising living standards. While waiting for the economy to rebound, the most vulnerable households will continue to need income support.Publication The Economic Impact of International Remittances on Poverty and Household Consumption and Investment in Indonesia(2010-09-01)This paper analyzes the impact of international remittances on poverty and household consumption and investment using panel data (2000 and 2007) from the Indonesian Family Life Survey. Three key findings emerge. First, using an instrumental variables approach to control for selection and endogeneity, it finds that international remittances have a large statistical effect on reducing poverty in Indonesia. Second, households receiving remittances in 2007 spent more at the margin on one key consumption good -- food -- compared with what they would have spent on this good without the receipt of remittances. Third, households receiving remittances in 2007 spent less at the margin on one important investment good -- housing -- compared with what they would have spent on this good without the receipt of remittances. Households receiving international remittances in Indonesia are poorer than other types of households, and thus they tend to spend their remittances at the margin on consumption rather than investment goods.Publication Understanding the Climate Change-Migration Nexus through the Lens of Household Surveys(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-06)Over the past two decades, the causal relationship between climate change and migration has gained increasing prominence on the international political agenda. Despite recent advances in both conceptual frameworks and applied techniques, the empirical evidence does not provide clear-cut conclusions, mainly due to the intrinsic complexity of the phenomena of interest, the irreducible heterogeneity of the transmission mechanisms, some common misconceptions, and, in particular, the paucity of adequate data. This data-oriented review first summarizes the findings of the most recent empirical literature and identifies the main insights as well as the most important mediating channels and contextual factors. Then, it discusses open issues and assesses the main data gaps that currently prevent more robust quantifications. Finally, the paper highlights opportunities for exploring these research questions, exploiting the potential of the existing multi-topic and multi-purpose household survey data sets, such as those produced by the World Bank’s Living Standards Measurement Study. The paper focuses on the Living Standards Measurement Study–Integrated Surveys on Agriculture program to discuss potential improvements for integrating standard household surveys with additional modules and data sources.Publication The Impacts of International Migration on Remaining Household Members : Omnibus Results from a Migration Lottery Program(2009-06-01)The impacts of international migration on development in the sending countries, and especially the effects on remaining household members, are increasingly studied. However, comparisons of households in developing countries with and without migrants are complicated by a double-selectivity problem: households self-select into migration, and among households involved in migration, some send a subset of members with the rest remaining while other households migrate en masse. The authors address these selectivity issues using the randomization provided by an immigration ballot under the Pacific Access Category of New Zealand s immigration policy. They survey applicants to the 2002-05 ballots in Tonga and compare outcomes for the remaining household members of emigrants with those for members of similar households that were unsuccessful in the ballots. The immigration laws determine which household members can accompany the principal migrant, providing an instrument to address the second selectivity issue. Using this natural experiment, the authors examine the myriad impacts that migration has on remaining household members, focussing on labor supply, income, durable assets, financial service usage, diet, and physical and mental health. The analysis uses multiple hypothesis testing procedures to examine which impacts are robust. The findings indicate that the overall impact on households left behind is largely negative. The findings also reveal evidence that both sources of selectivity matter, leading studies that fail to adequately address them to misrepresent the impact of migration.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Are the Poorest Catching Up?(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-12-05)Are global incomes converging or diverging Despite recent empirical evidence supporting the hypothesis of unconditional beta convergence, this paper argues that such findings overlook the stark reality facing the world’s poorest people. Many lower income countries, including those among the so-called “Bottom Billion,” continue to slip further behind the rest of the world, while the numbers of those living in extreme poverty are beginning to rise again after decades of decline. The paper explores how these contradictions can coexist and discusses the policy importance of looking beyond global average trends. The paper identifies three confusions that can arise when analyzing trends in income convergence. First, a focus on unconditional convergence can overlook important policy questions, such as whether countries are likely to eradicate extreme poverty or to catch up with the rest of the world. Tests for convergence may yield only partial answers, especially in light of recent findings that show that unconditional beta convergence can coexist with a significant group of countries slipping ever further behind the rest of the world. Meanwhile extreme poverty numbers are increasing rather than decreasing. Second, average trends can both obscure and be distorted by underlying differences in country composition. In the extreme case, while fast-growing China was below global mean incomes between 2000 and 2020, it significantly boosted empirical support for global convergence. Now that China has passed this threshold, the finding will likely reverse in the coming years as more data is available. Third, different levels of availability of time periods and country coverage can distort and even bias empirical findings, especially where limitations to data availability is correlated with lower income or diverging economies.Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.Publication Offshore Data Leaks and Tax Enforcement in Developing Countries(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-05-20)The past decade has witnessed a rapid increase in data leaks from tax havens, spanning from the Luxembourg Leaks to revelations in the Panama and Pandora Papers. While these leaks often prompt political investigations into politicians with offshore accounts and calls from civil society for greater transparency in corporate ownership, they also serve as valuable resources for tax authorities investigating cross-border tax evasion and avoidance. To illustrate this point, this note analyzes three country cases—Ecuador, Honduras, and Senegal—where the authors closely collaborated with national tax administrations. It documents the distribution of offshore company formation across jurisdictions for shareholders and ultimate beneficial owners, as well as the relative prevalence of these countries in the overall dataset published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in its Offshore Leaks Database (OLD). Finally, policy recommendations are provided for enhancing personal income tax enforcement.Publication Why Should We Care about Care?(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-09-09)This note examines the provision of childcare and eldercare in Kosovo with an emphasis on the availability, price, and quality of care, and suggests policy priorities that address the identified challenges. The analysis in this note is based on a study aimed at exploring childcare and eldercare in the Western Balkans region, drawing primarily from a new mixed-methods dataset, described in the following section, and building on relevant quantitative surveys and data sources specific to Western Balkans countries. The note is structured as follows: section two introduces the new, independent mixed methods data set that is the basis for the analysis and findings presented. Section three describes the use of formal care arrangements in Kosovo. Next, based on the analysis of perspectives both from families with care needs and from care providers and discussing the role of norms and perceptions of childcare and eldercare use, the following sections are dedicated to the description of supply and demand of childcare and eldercare, respectively. Sections four and five focuses on the supply and demand of childcare, and sections six and seven describe supply and demand of eldercare. Section eight concludes by examining what we know in terms of policies that can support families in informal care provision in a sustainable and incentive-compatible manner.Publication Gender Equality in The Geothermal Energy Sector(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-05)Although geothermal energy is globally recognized as a clean and reliable source of heat and electric power its development can inadvertently lead to adverse outcomes that disproportionately disadvantage women. Based on good practices and lessons learned, this report introduces ways that geothermal projects can mitigate risks and pursue opportunities to address gender gaps within the project cycle. It outlines the risks and opportunities associated with (i) changes in land and natural resource use, (ii) changes to employment and economic patterns, and (iii) changes to environment and health. Beyond mapping risks and opportunities, the report makes the case for focusing on the gaps between men and women from the project outset. Once gaps, key stakeholder risks, and additional development opportunities have been identified, project teams have an opportunity to address them through actions. The report provides guidance on how to include specific monitoring and evaluation indicators in the results framework for geothermal projects that measure progress toward closing gaps between men and women. In addition, the report contains an overview of guidance and toolkits developed, selected global case studies, and other resources so that project teams, governments, and geothermal developers have additional guidance on hand to prepare more equitable projects.