Migrant Remittances and Household Division: The Case of Nang Rong, Thailand

Martin Piotrowski, University of Oklahoma

This work examines the effect of migrant remittances on household splits in Nang Rong, Thailand, an agrarian district of a developing country that has seen tremendous economic, demographic, and social transformations in recent decades. Remittances sent from migrants to their origin households are a form of income used to alleviate credit constraints, making it possible to foster household change. The evidence is consistent with a household allocation model, whereby a household head distributes remittance money to finance the movement of daughters into a new independent household following a stage of living with her husband in her family’s natal household. Remittances are a significant determinant of household nucleation, especially in the latter stages of the Thai household life-cycle.