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Sibling Influences on Migrant Remittances, Evidence from Nang Rong, Thailand

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Abstract

Using data from Nang Rong, Thailand, this research utilizes a unique research design to analyze the effect of siblings’ characteristics (N = 4,338 sibling pairs) as a determinant of migrant remittances sent as a form of support to aging parents living in rural households. The research advances the study of remittances and intergenerational support by going beyond the prevailing model of remittances, which views these transfers as atomized exchanges between individual migrants and their households. Using characteristics of siblings as determinants of support provision, I find evidence that differences in occupation, gender, and marital status across sibling pairs all have a net effect on support behavior. Underlying these differences is the ability to provide support, competing commitments to family of procreation, and gender norms about care giving.

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Notes

  1. For more information on the Nang Rong data see the project website (www.cpc.unc.edu/projects/nangrong) or published sources: Entwisle et al. 2007, Rindfuss et al. 2007, Curran et al. 2005.

  2. Consequently, as some earlier migrants are included in these analyses, I did not estimate separate models for the 1994 and the 2000 data.

  3. The baht is the Thai unit of currency; in 2000, at approximately the middle of the year (June 15), 1 USD = 39.07 baht (Federal Reserve 2007). In determining the value of transfers of food, data collection relied on the judgment of respondents.

  4. Money was the most likely form of remittance sent to the household (59% of ego migrants in the sample sent this), followed by food (31%), clothing (25%), household goods (8%), electrical appliances (5%), and vehicles (1%). In analysis that used just monetary remittances, results were similar to those using an overall measure, thus only the overall measure was used in the final analysis.

  5. As having less education was non-significant in the statistical models, this variable was left out of the final analysis.

  6. Overall, 7.54% of egos and 6.26% of siblings were unemployed.

  7. Asset measures include the number of televisions, VCRs, refrigerators, itans (agricultural trucks), bicycles, motorcycles, cars/trucks/pickups, and sewing machines owned by the household. I also include measures for whether the dwelling unit has glass paned windows, the household cooks with electricity or gas, the household owns a large tractor, small tractor, or rice thresher.

  8. The procedure uses all Nang Rong households in the sample to construct the index, while only households included in the analytical sample are included in the analysis. Therefore, the proportion of households in Table 2 does not conform exactly to the expected tertile breakdown. Indeed, wealthier households are slightly under-represented (27 percent are in the top tertile), while middle and bottom tier households are slightly over-represented.

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Acknowledgments

An earlier version of this paper was presented during a poster session at the Population Association of America annual meeting, in New Orleans, 2008. I would like to thank Loretta Bass, Ann Beutel, Stephanie Burge, Miyuki Fukashima, Jim Hull, Amy Kroska, Kim Korinek, Craig St. John, and several anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper.

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  1. Department of Sociology, University of Oklahoma, 780 Van Vleet Oval, Kaufman Hall, Norman, OK, 73019, USA

    Martin Piotrowski

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Correspondence to Martin Piotrowski.

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Table S1

ESM 1 (XLS 14825 KB)

Appendix

Appendix

Table 6 Multinomial probit estimates of remittance propensity, sensitivity analysis for egos with no siblings in household
Full size table
Table 7 Multinomial probit estimates of remittance amount, sensitivity analysis for egos with no siblings in household
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Table 8 Probit estimates of remittances, egos with no migrant siblings
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Piotrowski, M. Sibling Influences on Migrant Remittances, Evidence from Nang Rong, Thailand. Population Ageing 1, 193–224 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12062-009-9011-7

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