Jose Mota (University of Houston)

Title: International Migrants and the Human Capital Formation of Their Left-Behind Children

Abstract: International migration can disrupt families and affect the human capital investment of left behind children. Using data from the Mexican Family Life Survey, I document that mothers with husbands in the United States invest less time and resources in the education of their children than those with husbands in Mexico. I develop a heterogeneous household model with endogenous migration and intergenerational linkages through investments in children’s education. The model incorporates important features of the data. In particular, I allow for three features: the low returns of a Mexican education in the U.S. labor market, selection in the migration decision, and potential complementarity between fathers and mothers in the human capital formation of their children. I find that the differential returns of a Mexican education between the U.S. and Mexican labor markets is crucial to explain the educational investment disparities.

You can find the paper here.