Template-type: ReDif-Paper 1.0 
Author-Name: Mahé, Clotilde
Author-Email: mahe@merit.unu.edu
Author-workplace-name: UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University
Title: Does publicly provided health care affect migration? Evidence from Mexico
Abstract: 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.
Keywords: Health insurance, migration, Mexico, occupational choice
Classification-JEL: I13, I15, I18, I38, J21, O15
Series: UNU-MERIT Working Papers
Creation-Date: 20171127
Number: 2017-049
File-URL: https://unu-merit.nl/publications/wppdf/2017/wp2017-049.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 275 kb
Handle: RePEc:unm:unumer:2017049