The Development Impact of a Best Practice Seasonal Worker Policy

McKenzie, David ; Gibson, John

关键词: AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION;    ALCOHOL;    ALCOHOLICS;    ASSET PURCHASE;    BENEFITS OF MIGRATION;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-5488
RP-ID  :  WPS5488

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Seasonal migration programs are widelyused around the world, and are increasingly seen as offeringa potential "triple-win"-- benefiting the migrant,sending country, and receiving country. Yet there is adearth of rigorous evidence as to their development impact,and concerns about whether the time periods involved are tooshort to realize much in the way of benefits, and whetherpoorer, less skilled households actually get to participatein such programs. This paper studies the development impactsof a recently introduced seasonal worker program that hasbeen deemed to be "best practice." NewZealand's Recognized Seasonal Employer program waslaunched in 2007 with an explicit focus on development inthe Pacific alongside the aim of benefiting employers athome. A multi-year prospective evaluation allows measurementof the impact of participation in this program on householdsand communities in Tonga and Vanuatu. Using a matcheddifference-in-differences analysis based on detailed surveysfielded before, during, and after participation, the authorsfind that the Recognized Seasonal Employer program hasindeed had largely positive development impacts. It hasincreased income and consumption of households, allowedhouseholds to purchase more durable goods, increased thesubjective standard of living, and had additional benefitsat the community level. It also increased child schooling inTonga. This should rank it among the most effectivedevelopment policies evaluated to date. The policy wasdesigned as a best practice example based on lessonselsewhere, and now should serve as a model for othercountries to follow.