Impact of migration on household consumption expenditures in Bangladesh using the coarsened exact matching (CEM) approach

Abstract

PurposeThe study aims to examine the impact of migration on household consumption expenditures in Bangladesh.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses coarsened exact matching methods to examine the causal impact between migration and household welfare using the dataset on Bangladesh Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2010 on 12,213 households.FindingsThe study reveals that migration has a positive impact on household welfare improvement through increases in their consumption expenditures. Households with migration status are found to spend more on food, non-food (housing, durable goods, fuel, cosmetics, cleaning, transport, clothing, taxes, insurance, recreation) items and medical. However, the authors do not find any evidence of impacts on education expenditures.Research limitations/implicationsThe availability of panel data and the use of other variables (e.g. household investment expenditures, household budget allocation for agricultural input expenses, etc.) would have been able to provide vivid results.Originality/valueThis paper adds to the Bangladeshi migration literature by offering a novel empirical assessment of the Bangladeshi migrants and its impact on household welfare by drawing upon a recently published, nationally representative sample of Bangladeshi households.