Chapter 8 Migrant Networks, Migrant Selection, And High School Graduation In México

This chapter enquires whether family migration experience affects the probability of high school graduation of children once unobserved heterogeneity is properly accounted for. Bivariate dynamic random effects probit models for cluster data are estimated to control for the potential endogeneity of education and migration outcomes of elder members of a family in a regression for the education and migration of younger children. Correlation of unobservables across migration and education decisions as well as within groups of individuals such as the family are explicitly modeled. Results show that children from households headed by a migrant are less likely to graduate from high school than children from households headed by a non-migrant. However, as the number of migrants in the family increase, a larger number of migrants in the family is associated with a higher probability of graduation from high school in México. Negative migrant selection in unobservables is detected.