Our findings confirm those of previous papers on Mexico, suggesting that the positive effect of remittances on education tends to be larger when parents’ schooling is low. For instance, among rural girls in Mexico, Paraguay and Peru,<sup>9</sup> our previous results suggested no effect of remittances on educational attainment but we now find a positive and significant effect for those whose mothers have at most three years of educational attainment, whereas for the remaining children the effect is estimated to be close to zero – although slightly negative in Mexico and Paraguay. Similarly, in Guatemala and Honduras, some of the previously estimated positive effects of remittances are now found to be larger in magnitude for children with uneducated mothers and considerably smaller for those whose mothers have at least four years of schooling.

Overall, with the addition of Paraguay and Peru to the list of countries where remittances affect educational attainment, we are left with only two countries (Jamaica and the Dominican Republic) in which those effects are always non-significant. As for the differences by gender and urban status, our estimation results do not allow easy generalizations and suggest that the various potential effects of migration and remittances – relaxation of budget constraints, social disruption, changes in the returns of schooling – carry different relative weights depending on the country and socio-economic group involved. In any case, it appears that remittances tend to relax budget constraints that otherwise would have forced children to leave school and reduce their educational attainment, but this effect is sometimes restricted to those with less educated mothers.

# _IV.2. Health Outcomes_

Few papers have addressed the impact of migration and remittances on child health, and the exceptions are mostly focused on infant mortality. For instance, Brockerhoff (1990) and Ssengonzi, De Jong and Stokes (2002) investigate the effects of female migration on the survival chances of their children in Senegal and Uganda, respectively. They find that rural to urban migration significantly increases child survival chances. Kanaiaupuni and Donato (1999) analyze the effects of village migration and remittances on infant survival outcomes in Mexico, and conclude that remittances reduce infant mortality. However, the authors reach an opposite conclusion for the effect of migration: higher rates of infant mortality in communities experiencing intense migration. Finally, with data on Mexican municipalities Lopez-Cordova (2005) concludes that larger proportions of remittances and migrant households at the community level are associated with lower infant mortality rates.

Further evidence on the impact of migration on other child health outcomes has been provided by Hildebrandt and McKenzie (2006) for the Mexican case. Their results show that migrant households have lower rates of infant mortality and higher birth weights. Moreover, they find evidence that migration also raises maternal health knowledge and the likelihood that the child was delivered by a doctor. On the other hand, preventative health care (breastfeeding, visits to doctors, and vaccinations) seem to be less likely for children from migrant households.

> 9 In the case of Peru, the sample includes both urban and rural children together in order to achieve sufficient variation.

29