Field and Natural Experiments in Migration

A large part of the development literature in migration attempts to answer questions like what is the impact of migration on the incomes, health, and life opportunities of migrants; and what is the impact of having a household member migrate or of receiving remittances on outcomes of household members remaining in the sending community, such as the education and health of children, their levels of. [...] What is the treatment effect being estimated, and for whom does it apply? In most experiments, what is randomized is the offer of an intervention or program, and then com- paring the treatment and control groups will give the intention-to-treat (ITT) effect for the sample of individuals exposed to the experiment. [...] However, if the main barrier to migration lies in the costs of migrating and ability to pay these costs, or in incorrect information, it could conversely be that the individuals who are least interested in migrating to begin with are the ones who have the most to gain from actually migrat- ing. [...] (2019) compare the wages of immigrants from 42 countries in the United States with those of individuals of the same gender, age, and education level in the origin countries to get an estimate of the wage gain from migrating. [...] The “share” measures the degree to which a unit is exposed to a particular shock, and the “shift” refers to the size of a particular shock.