There is a widespread policy view that a lack of job opportunities at home is a key reason for migration, accompanied by suggestions of the need to spend more on creating these opportunities to reduce migration. Self-employment is widespread in poor countries, and faced with a lack of existing...

This paper examines the relationship between spatial and economic mobility in Uganda using longitudinal data from 2005 through 2012. The study relies on a detailed panel tracking survey and exploits exogenous variation in the spatial intensity of violent conflict, rainfall shocks, distance from...

Iraq was plunged into two simultaneous crises in the second half of 2014, one driven by a sharp decline in oil prices, the other, by Islamic State militants. Since June 2014, crude oil prices per barrel have fallen from around 112 USD to 97 USD in September and 62 USD by December. Given Iraq's...

The objective of this report is to inform the government's policies and strategies on urbanization as a driver of economic development, job creation, and poverty reduction. Note two examines internal migration in Rwanda, which is a recent phenomenon and remains fairly limited, with less than 10...

In many developing countries, disparities in living standards between lagging and leading areas, or between rural and urban areas, are large. The spatial disparities in living standards offer a compelling motivation for people in lagging areas to move closer to economic density. Ethiopia too has...

This report aims to assess the spatial dimensions of settlement, internal migration, and welfare inequality in Zimbabwe, explore their relationship and implications, and identify policy options for addressing spatial disparities in social outcomes. It is exploratory in nature and identifies...

With an estimated 724 million extreme poor people living in developing countries, and the world's demographics bifurcating into an older north and a younger south, there are substantial economic incentives and benefits for people to migrate. There are also important market and regulatory...

Household expenditures for children-related goods may change when one of the parent migrates and do so differently depending on whether it is the mother or the father that leaves. A sequential model that explains migration and budget allocation choices is proposed and its predictions are tested...

This papers investigates to what extent internal migration contributes to improving households' welfare in Ghana. Using the most recent and nationally representative household survey (Ghana Living Standards Survey 2012/13), the estimates indicate that on average migration increases consumption...