PMMA-20166 Do out-migration and remittances induce shifts to non-farm entrepreneurship among the left-behind? Evidence from Nepal

Abstract

The project will investigate the effects of work-related out-migration – distinguishing between internal and international – on the entrepreneurial activities of left-behind family members, including women, as reflected in their involvement in self-owned non-farm enterprises. It will provide evidence from Nepal, a least-developed country where international remittances have become the backbone of the economy. Low productivity in agriculture and a dearth of non-farm employment opportunities that offer decent incomes induce people to seek foreign employment. Creation of such opportunities is high on the policy agenda, with promoting entrepreneurship through micro, small- and medium-scale enterprises a stepping stone towards that goal. The research question has salience beyond Nepal, given the surge in international labour migration in recent years, with over two thirds of international migrants originating in developing countries, and policy emphasis on job-creating structural transformation of domestic economy. The study will utilize cross-section as well as panel household data, and employ an instrumental variable strategy as a core method. The operation of non-farm enterprises, albeit largely informal, by left-behind family members has implications for (i) the domestic employment prospects of foreign-employment returnees, (ii) the employment prospects of migrants’ children (who if faced with the same scarcity of decent off-farm jobs as their parents will be compelled to migrate), and (iii) in the long term, the employment opportunities for non-migrants in the neighbourhood (if the household-owned non-farm enterprises expand and hire labour, or through possible spillovers arising from the “discovery” of an entrepreneurial economic activity by the migrant-sending household).

Members

Project leader: Paras Kharel

Project researchers: Dikshya Singh | Pragati Koirala | Kshitiz Dahal

Scientific mentors: Jorge Davalos

Journal publication

Authors	Co-Authors	Title of paper	Title of Economic Review	Bibliographic references
Paras Kharel, Jorge Dávalos, Kshitiz Dahal		<p>International remittances and nonfarm entrepreneurship among the left-behind: Evidence from Nepal</p>	Review of Development Economics	Online

Working Papers

	Title	Modified	Size	Comments	Recommendations
	Remittances and Non-Farm Self-Employment among the Left-Behind: Evidence from Nepal	2020-01-31	835.59kB	0	0

Policy Briefs

	Title	Modified	Size	Comments	Recommendations
	Can remittances support development in Nepal?	2019-12-06	1.10MB	0	0

Final report

	Title	Modified	Size	Comments	Recommendations
		2019-08-14	1.23MB	0	0

Proposal

	Title	Modified	Size	Comments	Recommendations
	Do out-migration and remittances induce shifts to non-farm entrepreneurship among the left-behind? Evidence from Nepal	2018-09-18	349.93kB	0	0