Regional Migration, Insurance and Economic Shocks: Evidence from Nicaragua

Teresa Molina Millan ()

No 9494, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: To test whether transfers sent and received by regional migrants serve an insurance role, this paper estimates the causal impact of income shocks at a migrant's origin and destination location on the bilateral transfer of funds. Using rainfall shocks in rural Nicaragua, I find that migrants aged 15-21 years provide unilateral insurance to their origin household. Distinguishing by destination and economic activity I show that the level of insurance increases when migrants and households are exposed to less correlated shocks. In addition, I find evidence of bilateral insurance among rural migrants exposed to rainfall shocks with low levels of correlation with respect to shocks occurring at origin.

Keywords: insurance; risk; remittances; internal migration; inter-households transfers; weather shocks (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F24 O12 O15 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 51 pages
Date: 2015-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev, nep-ias and nep-mig
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published - published in: Journal of Development Studies, 2020, 56 (11), 2000-2029

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