Martin Piotrowski

Migrant remittances and the web of family obligations: Ongoing support among spatially extended kin in North-east Thailand, 1984–94

Exchanges of money, goods, and assistance among family/kin members are influenced by the intertwined lives of individuals and their family/kin. As people pass through the young adulthood years, acquiring obligations as spouses and parents, and migrating in search of economic opportunities, tensions can arise over existing obligations. Using rich longitudinal data from Northeast Thailand, we examined the role of family networks (origin and destination) on migrants’ exchanges with family/kin. Our approach overcame many shortcomings of earlier studies, allowing us to ‘see’ the family social network arrayed in a broader network. We show that intra-family exchanges are influenced by marital status, the presence of children, having parents in the origin household, and having siblings depart from it. The results are stable across sensitivity tests that systematically include or exclude various familial links. In addition, reports provided by origin households on migrant remittances are consistent with reports from migrants themselves.

Migrant Remittances and Skipped Generation Households: Investigating the Exchange Motive Using Evidence from Nang Rong, Thailand

Using data from the Nang Rong projects social survey (N=6,801 households) and qualitative data from semi-structured interviews, I examine the relationship between migrant remittances and the skipped generation household structure. I find that the skipped generation household is a significant determinant of in-kind remittances and the amount of remittances received by the household. Surprisingly, although qualitative data suggest that grandparents living in skipped generation households provide childcare for the children of absent migrants, quantitative evidence reveals that these households receive lower remittance amounts than other households. This suggests that although an exchange motivation may be overlooked in the remittance literature, it does not apply to migrant remittances as it does in the broader literature on inter vivos intergenerational transfers.

Measuring housing quality in the absence of a monetized real estate market

Measuring housing quality or value or both has been a weak component of demographic and development research in less developed countries that lack an active real estate (housing) market. We describe a new method based on a standardized subjective rating process. It is designed to be used in settings that do not have an active, monetized housing market. The method is applied in an ongoing longitudinal study in north-east Thailand and could be straightforwardly used in many other settings. We develop a conceptual model of the process whereby households come to reside in high-quality or low-quality housing units. We use this theoretical model in conjunction with longitudinal data to show that the new method of measuring housing quality behaves as theoretically expected, thus providing evidence of face validity.

Education and fertility decline in China during transitional times: A cohort approach

We examine the effect of education on birth outcomes in China during the period of economic transition and large-scale changes in mass education and population control measures. Retrospective micro data from the 2008 Chinese General Social Survey and discrete time event history analysis are used to examine the fertility history of several cohorts of women born between 1945 and 1968. We observed births at different parities, distinguishing the education effect across cohorts and rural/urban sectors. We found differences across cohorts consistent with unique features of the Chinese context, such as the radical egalitarian era of educational expansion, and the Reform Era. We also found that despite the increase in some education levels across cohorts (e.g., junior high school in rural areas), birth chances were more likely to be concentrated among less educated women, suggesting the impact of factors related to returns to education and hence the desire for children.

The Transition to First Marriage in China, 1966–2008: An Examination of Gender Differences in Education and Hukou Status

Abstract Using retrospective life history data from the 2008 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS), this study examines the entrance into first marriage in China, a country that has been experiencing profound socioeconomic changes for the past several decades. We examine educational differences across rural and urban regions and across gender as determinants of marriage. Results reveal that for rural women, increasing education (especially from the least educated to middle levels of education) decreases marriage chances. For urban women, increasing education does not affect their marriage chances, net of other factors. For the former, results are consistent with the broad East Asian cultural practice of women “marrying up.” For the latter, we argue that modernizing forces (e.g., improvements in education) have reduced the incidence of this practice. We also find effects attributable to unique features of the Chinese institutional context, such as the rural/urban divide and effects of the household registration (Hukou) system.

Les déterminants économiques et non économiques de la migration de retour en Thaïlande rurale

Cette note de recherche analyse les determinants economiques et non economiques des migrations de retour pour 3 021 jeunes originaires de la campagne thailandaise. Cette cohorte est suivie de maniere prospective pendant 16 ans, de la preadolescence au debut de l’âge adulte, a travers trois vagues d’enquetes en 1984, 1994 et 2000. Les donnees proviennent du projet Nang Rong, recherche longitudinale sur l’exode rural menee dans une region agricole du Nord-Est de la Thailande. Il s’agit, a partir cette etude, d’aller au-dela de la simple dichotomie economique « succes / echec », et d’analyser les facteurs institutionnels non economiques qui determinent le retour des migrants. Meme si on observe un phenomene de selection negative du capital humain, les liens avec des membres de la famille d’origine (enfants, conjoint, parents) sont egalement des determinants cles du retour. Ces facteurs non economiques, lies a l’environnement familial, ont un impact aussi puissant que les determinants economiques sur la migration de retour.

Resistant to change? The transition to parenthood among married adults in China

Using retrospective life history data from the 2008 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) and discrete time event history analysis, this study investigates the transition to parenthood of adult males and females for the 1965 to 2004 marriage cohorts. We find that Chinese people generally prefer to become parents soon after marriage. We also find that more recent marriage cohorts are less likely to become parents compared to earlier cohort for males, but this is not the case for women. This indicates that economic or role incompatibility in general does not prevent women from becoming mothers, which in general supports the idea that there are alternative resources available for women to balance the role incompatibility in China’s context. The extended family is an important resource for married couples to rely upon to raise young children. This study sheds light on China’s family therapy practice, which should take into consideration the demographic trends and cultural factors in understanding the role conflict within the family, such as intergenerational relations and gender ideology.

Non-standard work and fertility: a comparison of the US and Japan

ABSTRACT Using General Social Survey data from Japan and the US (N = 5101), we examine the effect of non-standard or non-regular work status on men’s fertility. We employ a cross-national comparative approach to explore how this relationship differs both within and across the two countries. Consistent with features of the Japanese context which make it challenging for non-regular workers to realise the breadwinner role we find a negative effect of non-standard work status on men’s fertility in Japan, but not the US. Specifically, Japanese men employed as non-regular workers have the lowest chances of having a child. Non-regular work status has no such effect on men’s fertility in the US. We also find that the difference in the non-standard work effect between the two countries can be accounted for by differences in the effect of marriage, which illustrates the close connection between marriage and fertility in Japan.