International migration and the religious schooling of children in the home country: evidence from Bangladesh

This paper investigates whether international migration increases the religious schooling of children in the home country. I find that migration by a household member from Bangladesh to a Muslim-majority country increases the likelihood that a male child in the household is sent to an Islamic school...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of population economics 2023-07, Vol.36 (3), p.1963-2005
Main Author: Rahman, Khandker Wahedur
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Children
Demography
Economics
Economics and Finance
Households
International migration
Islam
Islamic schools
Labor Economics
Males
Migrants
Migration
Original Paper
Population Economics
Religion
Religiosity
Remittances
Social Policy
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This paper investigates whether international migration increases the religious schooling of children in the home country. I find that migration by a household member from Bangladesh to a Muslim-majority country increases the likelihood that a male child in the household is sent to an Islamic school ( madrasa ). There is no significant impact on the likelihood of a male child’s madrasa enrollment if the household sends a member to a non-Muslim-majority country. Sending a household member abroad does not affect the likelihood of the household sending children to school at all; it only leads to reallocation toward Islamic schooling. The results are inconsistent with financial remittances underlying the effect of migration on religious schooling. Learning about the potential benefits of madrasa education may explain the results, but there are several weaknesses in the arguments in favor of this mechanism. A third potential mechanism is an increase in religiosity through migrants transferring religious preferences, but I cannot establish a causal relationship between international migration and migrant-sending households’ religiosity.
ISSN:0933-1433
1432-1475
DOI:10.1007/s00148-022-00912-2