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Field
Abstract
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Before
In many developing economies, urban workers earn substantially more than rural workers with the same level of education. Why don't more rural workers migrate to cities? I use two field experiments in Kenya to show that low migration is partly due to underestimation of urban incomes, and that this inaccurate information can be sustained by migrants' strategic motives to hide income to minimize remittance obligations. Parents underestimate their migrant children's incomes by nearly half, and underestimation is greater when a migrant's incentive to hide income is higher. Providing information about urban earnings increases migration to the capital city by 39% over two years.
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After
In many developing economies, urban workers earn substantially more than rural workers with the same level of education. Why don't more rural workers migrate to cities? I use two field experiments in Kenya to show that low migration is partly due to underestimation of urban incomes, which is sustained by income hiding by migrants. Parents at the origin underestimate their migrant children's incomes by nearly half, and underestimation is greater when a migrant's remittance obligations are high. Providing information about urban earnings increases migration to the capital city by about 40% over two years.
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Field
Last Published
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Before
January 24, 2021 10:40 PM
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After
July 25, 2022 12:02 PM
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Field
Study Withdrawn
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Before
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After
No
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Field
Intervention Completion Date
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Before
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After
December 31, 2018
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Field
Data Collection Complete
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Before
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After
Yes
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Field
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
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Before
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After
Intervention 1: 497 households. Intervention 2: 4,994 households.
Intervention 1: 249 control households, 248 treatment households. Intervention 2: 1,588 placebo households, 841 pure control households, 2,565 treatment households.
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Field
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
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Before
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After
No
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Field
Public Data URL
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Before
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After
https://doi.org/10.3886/E176081V1
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Field
Is there a restricted access data set available on request?
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Before
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After
No
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Field
Program Files
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Before
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After
Yes
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Field
Program Files URL
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Before
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After
https://doi.org/10.3886/E176081V1
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Field
Data Collection Completion Date
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Before
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After
September 30, 2019
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Field
Is data available for public use?
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Before
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After
Yes
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Field
Intervention End Date
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Before
April 20, 2018
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After
December 31, 2018
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Field
Primary Outcomes (End Points)
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Before
Intervention 1: Beliefs about the returns to migration, probability of migrating within the year following the intervention, employment, income, self-reported welfare.
Intervention 2: Beliefs about average earnings in Nairobi (unconditional and for migrants), beliefs about the returns to migration, likelihood of migrating within the next year.
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After
Intervention 1: Beliefs about the returns to migration, probability of migrating within the year following the intervention, employment, income, self-reported welfare.
Intervention 2: Beliefs about own potential earnings in Nairobi, beliefs about average earnings of migrants in Nairobi.
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Field
Primary Outcomes (Explanation)
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Before
I have two measures of migration after the intervention for each of the following destination types: any destination, Nairobi, Kisumu, Eldoret, other urban destination, and other rural destination. The two measures are 1.) whether the household sent at least one migrant to that destination after the intervention, and 2.) the number of migrants the household sent to that destination after the intervention. Income will be measured as the sum of individual wage and enterprise income across family members (as defined by the household roster collected at baseline) plus estimated agricultural output (farm-gate value estimated by the household head).
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After
Migration outcomes will be measured as the number of migrants the household sent to a given destination after the intervention, for each of the following destination types: any destination, Nairobi, Kisumu, Eldoret, other urban destination, and other rural destination. There are two types of migration measures: cumulative (any migration after the treatment, including return migrants) and status at the time of the survey (only includes current migrants). Income will be measured as the sum of individual wage and enterprise income across family members (as defined by the household roster collected at baseline) plus estimated agricultural output (farm-gate value estimated by the household head).
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Field
Randomization Method
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Before
Treatment status was assigned by a random number generator.
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After
Treatment status was assigned on-the-ground by a random number generator.
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Field
Planned Number of Clusters
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Before
Intervention 1: 497 households. Intervention 2: 340 households.
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After
Intervention 1: 497 households. Intervention 2: 340 households, scaled-up to 4,994 households.
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Field
Keyword(s)
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Before
Labor, Other
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After
Labor, Other
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Field
Secondary Outcomes (End Points)
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Before
Intervention 1: Remittances, savings, spending on food, investment, whether the household experienced a financial emergency in the past 3 months, whether the household is worried about their finances, and whether the household could cope with a financial shock of 2000 KES.
Intervention 2: Expected share of remittances for the marginal migrant from that household.
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After
Intervention 1: Remittances, savings, spending on food, whether the household is worried about their finances, mental health index.
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Field
Building on Existing Work
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Before
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After
No
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