Economic Remittance and Ethnic Differences in Its Impact on Children's Schooling in Guatemala

Hirotoshi Yoshioka, University of Texas at Austin

Previous research on international migration has examined impacts of remittances on the inequality level in sending communities. However, most research has not examined whether such impacts differ across ethnic groups. In Guatemala, where ethnic minorities face a much harder socioeconomic situation, it is possible that the level of socioeconomic inequality between ethnic groups increases through international remittances. Using the nationally representative data from Guatemala, I found that children of international remittance recipient households have significantly higher years of schooling than other children. Positive impacts of international remittances on children's years of schooling are considerably larger among indigenous children than non-indigenous children. Nevertheless, even when taking into account relevant socioeconomic factors, indigenous children receive significantly fewer years of schooling than non-indigenous children. Therefore, results suggest that international remittances not only lead to a higher level of inequality in schooling as a whole, but also among indigenous people, endangering the most disadvantaged households’ children.