Channeling remittances to education: A field experiment among migrants from El Salvador

We implement a randomized experiment offering Salvadoran migrants matching funds for educational remittances, which are channeled directly to a beneficiary student in El Salvador chosen by the migrant. The matches lead to increased educational expenditures, higher private school attendance, and lowe...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ambler, Kate, Aycinena, Diego, Yang, Dean
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: American Economic Association 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/151197
Description
Summary:We implement a randomized experiment offering Salvadoran migrants matching funds for educational remittances, which are channeled directly to a beneficiary student in El Salvador chosen by the migrant. The matches lead to increased educational expenditures, higher private school attendance, and lower labor supply of youths in El Salvador households connected to migrant study participants. We find substantial “crowd-in” of educational investments: for each $1 received by beneficiaries, educational expenditures increase by $3.72. We find no shifting of expenditures away from other students, and no effect on remittances. (JEL F24, I21, I22, J13, O15, O19)