Decoupling migration effects from income effects on reproduction in Central American migrant-sending households
Davis, J.
International migration review 45(2): 325-347
2011
ISSN/ISBN: 0197-9183 PMID: 22069770 Document Number: 561623
Contemporary data for three Central American countries (Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Nicaragua) surveyed by the Latin American Migration Project were analyzed to determine if migration length and remittance transfers had an influence on fertility. The analysis was structured to separate societal influences on fertility attributable to migration from the income effects associated with remittance transfers. At the couple level, the odds that a birth would occur were negatively associated with an increase in U.S. remittance receipts and an increase in a wife's migration duration. However, no correlation was found between length of male migration and couple fertility.