Return migration and health outcomes in North Macedonia
International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care
ISSN: 1747-9894
Article publication date: 3 July 2021
Issue publication date: 20 September 2021
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is twofold, namely, to investigate if living and working abroad influences the (subjective) health of return migrants and to understand if there are any spillovers of return-migrant members onto health conditions of the family members left behind.
Design/methodology/approach
To that end, this paper uses the DoTM (Development on the Move) Migration Survey 2009, as well a propensity score matching to address selectivity on observables and IV (instrumental variables) for the selectivity on unobservables.
Findings
Results suggest that when equalized on observables, return migrants have better health than non-migrants. However, the reverse causality channel (less healthy individuals are more inclined to return) works to attenuate the true effect of return migration on health. Results further suggest a positive spillover effect of return migration on the health of the family members left behind, being mainly driven by the work of remittances sent while abroad, and not by the returned wealth or by the health knowledge transfer.
Originality/value
This paper offers at least two novelty lines to contribute to the current sparse of knowledge. First, it is among the scarce papers, and probably the only quantitative one, to investigate the nexus between return migration and health outcomes. Second, it heavily dwells on the role of selectivity (both on observables and unobservables) in determining the true (causal) effect of return migration on health.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This paper has been produced while the author’s stay at the Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo, Japan, April–June 2016, supported by the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science. All errors are solely the authors. Conflict of interest: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Citation
Petreski, M. (2021), "Return migration and health outcomes in North Macedonia", International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care, Vol. 17 No. 3, pp. 353-371. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMHSC-10-2017-0040
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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