Migration and children's schooling and time allocation: Evidence from El Salvador

This paper examines the impact of parental migration on schooling outcomes for children left behind in El Salvador. Using cross sectional data collected in 2012, outcomes for children are analyzed for children with migrant parents. The outcomes are also analyzed by remitting behavior of the parents and gender of the migrant parent who left his or her child behind. Results are observed using instrumental variable estimations, as well as seemingly unrelated regressions to estimate the impact of migration on children's time allocation. Results show that children with at least one migrant parent will complete more years of school. The gender of that migrant parent has no significant impact. Lastly, parental migration has no significant influence on work time but does decrease time devoted to education. This paper studies the impact of both migration and remittances on a child's schooling behavior. Results suggest that the same factors that affect schooling may have a strong correlation with the propensity to migrate as well, hence the use of instrumental variables.