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Abstract

This thesis consists of three papers that focus on labour, migration and well-being challenges of developing countries. The first chapter examines the motivations behind the migration and remittance decisions of migrants using a 20-year panel of 242 households. A theoretical model for the household migration decision is developed and tested, finding that both pull and push factors influence the decision to migrate. The patterns in migrants’ remittance behaviour reveal that migration can be understood as an investment decision made by the origin household. The second chapter estimates the impact of remittances on household consumption in Kerala using a two-stage least squares (2SLS) model with various novel instruments. The results show that remittances significantly increase household consumption, particularly through the purchase of durable goods. Counterfactual simulations based on selection-corrected estimates reveal that remittances also decrease poverty and inequality in the origin community. The third chapter investigates the effects of child labour on children’s educational outcomes in Kosovo, a country with a unique context compared to other countries with high levels of child labour. Both the extensive margin (using internationally recognized indicators of child labour) and the intensive margin (the marginal impact of hours worked) are examined, revealing negative effects on both numeracy and literacy skills. Robustness checks are also conducted to ensure the statistical validity of the results, which consistently show negative effects of child labour on children’s numeracy skills, with less consistent effects on literacy skills.

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