International migration, remittances, fertility, and development: Quantitative and qualitative evidence from Central America

This dissertation focuses on how migration from Central America to the United States, and the subsequent return of remittances to migrant-sending households, influence four measures of community development: fertility, agriculture, consumption, and education. The investigation offers two quantitative and two qualitative chapters. Using data supplied by the Latin American Migration Project, the two quantitative chapters address fertility and agricultural land use differentials between migrant and non-migrant households for three Central American nations (Costa Rica, Guatemala and Nicaragua) using regression models. The two qualitative analyses probe consumption, fertility, land use, and education in an ethnographic study of three highland Guatemala villages.;Results from the quantitative household fertility analysis indicate that fertility is negatively associated with an increase in U.S. remittances and wife's migration duration. However, no correlation emerges between male migration and household fertility. Agricultural land use analyses suggest that Central American smallholders do not radically change their relationship with the land following prolonged sojourns abroad---they are not investing remittances to increase or intensify their farming operations. Nevertheless, households do use remittances to purchase cattle.;Ethnographic field work results show that while many households desired to control their fertility, a widespread mistrust of modern contraceptive methods---largely based on misinformation about their safety---hampers fertility control for many. However, exposure to U.S. culture appears to reduce unmet need for family planning knowledge and usage. Agricultural results are consistent with the quantitative findings: no differences are observed between migrant and non-migrant households. Rather, home building and investments in children's education are the main consumptive uses of remittances. Lastly, remittances allow children to attend school well nourished and clothed for longer periods of time. However, remittance investment in education comes with a cost: a lack of parental role models contribute to the disruption of childhood education for many children.;Taken together, these results challenge several theories that address demographic and land use change attributable to migration and remittances. Furthermore, they illuminate difficulties that policy makers must face as they attempt to harness the positive community development potential of the migration/remittance dynamic with the many indirect side-effects that this phenomenon poses.