Returns to International Migration: Evidence from a Bangladesh-Malaysia Visa Lottery

Arbeitspapier

We follow 3,512 (of 1.4 million) applicants to a government lottery that randomly allocated visas to Bangladeshis for low-skilled, temporary labor contracts in Malaysia. Most lottery winners migrate, and their remittance substantially raises their family's standard of living in Bangladesh. The migrant's absence pauses demographic changes (marriage, childbirth, household formation), and shifts decision-making power towards females. Migration removes enterprising individuals, lowering household entrepreneurship, but does not crowd out other family members' labor supply. One group of applicants were offered deferred migration that never materialized. Improved migration prospects induce pre-migration investments in skills that generate no returns in the domestic market.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 14232

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; International Migration ; Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development ; Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
• Subject: government-intermediated international migration

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Mobarak, Ahmed Mushfiq ; Sharif, Iffath ; Shrestha, Maheshwor
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2021

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/236263
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET