Migration, Health Knowledge and Teenagers Fertility: Evidence from Mexico∗

This paper aims at investigating the impact of migration on fertility, knowledge of contraceptive methods and preventive child health care in Mexico. A nationally representative demographic survey ENADID (National Survey of Demographic Dynamics) for the years 1997 and 2006 is used. In order to address the possible endogeneity of migrant status, an instrumental variable approach is employed: historic migration networks interacted with the number of adult males in the household are used as instrument for current household migration to the United States. Overall, the results suggest that women especially teenagers in households with at least one member migrated to the United States have a lower occurrence of pregnancy compared to women in no-migrant households. Evidence of the existence of a health knowledge channel which can partially drive this phenomenon is found: teenagers in migrant households have a higher knowledge of contraceptive methods. Less significant and more controversial results are obtained for child care outcomes.