Migration and the Relationship between Child-to-Parent and Formal Transfers: The Case of Mexico

Estela Rivero-Fuentes, World Bank Group

In this paper I explore whether formal transfers such as pensions and cash transfer programs crowd-out child-to-parent monetary transfers children, and whether the relationship between formal transfers and child-to-parent transfers differs between migrant and non-migrant children. I use data from a recent panel survey in Mexico which allows to control for selectivity in the probability of receiving formal and child-to-parent transfers. The effect of formal transfers on child-to-parent transfers is estimated using household and child specific fixed effects. Preliminary results suggest that public transfers reduce but do not completely crowd out child-to-parent transfers, and that this effect is stronger for migrant than for non-migrant children.