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Intensity of labour migration and its determinants: insights from Indian semi-arid villages

  • In Honor of Shin-Kun Peng
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Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the potential factors that determine the intensity of labour migration at household level for selected semi-arid villages in two states of India: Telangana and Maharashtra. In doing so, we use panel data for selected migrant households that were compiled from the household survey conducted by International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) for the period 2005–2014. We follow empirical analysis by employing state and aggregate level least squares dummy variable (LSDV) models to demonstrate how factors at each of these level can influence intensity of migration. The study finds that the main determinants of intensity of migration are family size, dependency ratio, age of the head of the household, ownership of the land and livestock owned by the household. Apart from these major factors, share of remittances in household’s total income mostly drives the migration intensity in each of the estimated regression models.

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Fig. 1

Source: Extracted by Researchers based on Census of India 2011 and 2014, shapefile

Fig. 2

Source: Authors calculations based on ICRISAT data set

Fig. 3

Source: Authors’ calculations from ICRISAT data set

Fig. 4

Source: Authors’ computation based on ICRISAT data set

Fig. 5

Source: Authors’ computation, based on ICRISAT data set

Fig. 6

Source: Authors’ computation based on ICRISAT data set

Chart 1

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Notes

  1. The VDSA data can merged onto the original VLS2, ICRISAT data covering 2005–2008. It is very challenging to merge the two waves of the ICRISAT data due to changes in the survey design and inconsistent household and Individual ID.

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Acknowledgement

Authors are grateful to the anonymous referees and the editor of this journal for their useful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai, Maharashtra, 400076, India

    Kalandi Charan Pradhan & K. Narayanan

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  1. Kalandi Charan Pradhan
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Correspondence to Kalandi Charan Pradhan.

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Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 7, 8 and 9.

Table 8 Variables and unit of measurement.
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Table 9 Pairwise correlation matrix between variables used in regression analysis.
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Pradhan, K.C., Narayanan, K. Intensity of labour migration and its determinants: insights from Indian semi-arid villages. Asia-Pac J Reg Sci 3, 955–994 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41685-019-00133-8

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