Migration, Risk and the Intra-Household Allocation of Labor in El Salvador

Abstract

We investigate how the gender composition of migrant flows and the intra-household allocation of labor are employed as risk-coping strategies in El Salvador. We show that agricultural productivity shocks primarily increased male migration to the US and, at the same time, increased the number of hours that the household devoted to agricultural activities. In contrast, damage sustained from the 2001 earthquakes exclusively stunted female migration. We argue that the reasons for this were that the earthquakes increased the demand for home production and that the costs of retaining women at home in the disaster's wake were lower than for men.