Migrants' Home Town Associations and Local Development in Mali1. (15th December 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Chauvet, Lisa; Gubert, Flore; Mercier, Marion; Mesplé‐Somps, Sandrine
• Is Part Of: Scandinavian journal of economics. Volume 117:Number 2(2015:Jun.)
• Page Start: 686
• Page End: 722
• Publication Date: 2014-12-15
• Subjects: Home Town Associations -- Mali -- migration -- public goods -- F22 -- H41 -- H75 -- O55; Economics -- Periodicals; 330.05
• DOI: 10.1111/sjoe.12100
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0347-0520

Abstract

Abstract: We explore the impact of migrants' Home Town Associations (HTAs) on the provision of public goods in Mali. We combine an original dataset on all the HTAs created by Malian migrants in France from 1981 with census data on public goods in all Malian villages since 1976, and we run double‐difference estimations to compare villages with and without an HTA, before and after the creation of the HTAs. We find robust evidence that the provision of schools, health centers, and, to a lesser extent, water amenities has increased significantly faster in villages targeted by an HTA between 1987 and 2009 than in control villages.