To Sew or Not to Sew? : Assessing the Welfare Effects of the Garment Industry in Cambodia

Mejia-Mantilla, Carolina ; Woldemichae, Martha Tesfaye

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: GARMENT INDUSTRY;    MANUFACTURING;    POVERTY;    REMITTANCES;    PROPENSITY SCORE MATCHING;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-8061
RP-ID  :  WPS8061

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This paper uses the 2011 CambodiaSocio-Economic Survey to analyze the relationship betweenparticipation in the garment industry and household welfare.The analysis relies on propensity score matching estimatorsto investigate whether households that have at least onemember employed in the textile and apparel sector are betteroff than those who do not participate in the garmentindustry, in terms of several monetary and non-monetarywelfare indicators. The findings show that garmenthouseholds are less likely to experience self-reported foodinsufficiency, and their children are more likely to beenrolled in school. Yet, the positive effect of thetreatment is restricted to the bottom 40 percent of theconsumption distribution, possibly due to the nature ofgarment jobs, and the fact that they represent an attractivealternative for the poorest households but not necessarilyfor the better-off. Using instrumental-variables, theanalysis also shows that remittances originating from thetextile and apparel sector relax household budgetconstraints, increasing expenditures in education, health,and investments in agricultural activities.