Does publicly provided health care affect migration? Evidence from Mexico
Clotilde Mahé
#2017-049
Do social policies affect migration? To answer this question, I exploit
the random expansion of a publicly provided health care programme in
Mexico, as well as the panel dimension and the timing of the Mexican
Family Life Survey. Non-contributory health care is found to increase
internal migration by freeing up care (time) constraints and
strengthening household economic resilience in the face of health-
related shocks. However, the alleviation of financial and time
constraints is not significant enough to alter international migration,
more costly by nature. Results point to the relevance of including both
resident and non-resident household members in assessing the effects of
social policies on labour market behaviours. They suggest that publicly
provided health care complements, rather than substitutes, informal
livelihood strategies in that relaxing binding financial and time
constraints enables labour force detachment of working-age members in
afiliated households.
JEL Classification: I13, I15, I18, I38, J21, O15
Keywords: Health insurance, migration, Mexico, occupational choice