This thesis has undertaken an in depth analysis of international migration, and the associated remittances and return migration in the context of Kerala, India. It has also examined a key impact of migration on human capital investment and accumulation, Though much work has been done on international migration and remittances from Kerala, this study has made significant contributions to the literature in many ways.



First, it is a micro level study that lends an insight into the micro-level factors that can influence migration and remittances. Second, it places migration in the household decision making framework, which is more apt to understand migrations from developing countries. The study also analyses the impact of migration on intergenerational educational mobility, and occupational mobility of migrant workers across their geographical mobility trajectory which have not been undertaken so far.



The findings suggest that there is significant heterogeneity in the migration pattern to different destinations and the human capital of the individual and socio-economic condition of the households determine the probability of migration and destination choice. Remitters self-select among emigrants and remittances are an informal co-insurance contract with the left-behind members of the households. Remittances affect the budget share allocation of receiving households.



Households from economically and socially weaker sections of the society increase their spending on human capital accumulation (education and health) when remittances relax their income constraints. Migration of a member of the household also positively affects the upward educational mobility of the left behind second generation, and this result is more pronounced among the middle and lower-middle-income groups and the OBC (non-Muslim) community However, this was not the case among the most socially and economically disadvantaged groups – children from the lowest income quintiles, the SC/STs and the Muslim households that had a migrant where there was no significant difference in inter-generational educational mobility compared to non-migrating households.



The study also finds the presence of low occupational mobility and lack of entrepreneurship among return migrants suggesting that migration is more a strategy to improve the household's financial resources through diversified income streams and not a channel to improve occupational outcomes. These results indicate that migration is perhaps a response to lack of opportunities in the source region.



Overall the study’s findings suggest that migration primarily contributes to improving the financial situations of households and does affect the human capital development of the second generation. But it is a highly selective phenomenon, aids economic mobility to the middle class and OBCs, but does not significantly contribute to upward mobility of the most disadvantaged sections of the society in Kerala, making them relatively more disadvantaged and thereby widening inequality.



It brings forth the importance of ensuring equal access/opportunity to migrate by reducing the cost of migration and improving access to information. Policies aimed at a more inclusive migration regime and providing viable migration opportunities to those who cannot afford the initial migration costs can act as enabling mechanisms for households in lower-income quintiles to reduce poverty and inequality in the State.



The study has established the migration and remittance dependence of households in Kerala, which accentuates the need for being prepared for adverse effects of nativisation, and changed labour market conditions post pandemic in the destination countries. This is significant in the context of increasing naturalisation in the GCC, which will lead to both a falling rate of emigration and an increasing rate of return emigration in the future.



The results emphasize the need for dynamic emigration policies that will channelize migration and remittances and aid in utilizing the return migrant labour force towards productive economic activities that can be both income and employment generating and self-sustaining in the long run. This points to the need for policies focusing on re-integration of the return emigrants, and also compensating for the loss of remittance income which assumes importance in the post-pandemic scenario. It also brings to question the need for mechanisms for enabling the working-age population to find alternative employment opportunities or ways to ensure sustained levels of emigration to the same or alternative destinations.