Publication

The authors of this report model whole-household migration and its impacts on income inequality and poverty. They use a unique, nationally representative household panel data set from rural Mexico. Households that participate in whole-household migration and those who do not differ significantly in terms of observable characteristics. However, analyses of income and poverty based on the remaining sample are not necessarily biased. The authors also analyze the changes in inequality and poverty due to whole-household migration and over time correcting for the effects of attrition. Their results support the migration diffusion hypothesis and underline the importance of paying attention to selective attrition in panel data studies on income distribution and poverty.