International Remittances and Private Healthcare in Kerala, India
International Remittances and Private Healthcare in Kerala, India
Author(s): Mohd Imran Khan, Valatheeswaran ChinnakkannuSubject(s): Health and medicine and law, Migration Studies, Asylum, Refugees, Migration as Policy-fields
Published by: Transnational Press London
Keywords: International migration; remittances; healthcare expenditure;health care access;
Summary/Abstract: The inflow of international remittances to Kerala has been increasing over the last three decades. It has increased the income of recipient households and enabled them to spend more on human capital investment. Using data from the Kerala Migration Survey-2010, this study analyses the impact of remittance receipts on the households’ healthcare expenditure and access to private healthcare in Kerala. This study employs an instrumental variable approach to account for the endogeneity of remittances receipts. The empirical results show that remittance income has a positive and significant impact on households’ healthcare expenditure and access to private healthcare services. After disaggregating the sample into different heterogeneous groups, this study found that remittances have a greater effect on lower-income households and Other Backward Class (OBC) households but not Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) households, which remain excluded from reaping the benefit of international migration and remittances.
Journal: Migration Letters
- Issue Year: 17/2020
- Issue No: 3
- Page Range: 445-460
- Page Count: 16
- Language: English