Marion Richard

 

Abstract : 

This study aims to examine how insecurity along main migration routes in Mali affects households’ ability to rely on migration as a risk-coping and income-smoothing strategy.  Exploiting detailed data on the stock of economic migrants and the origin of remittances received from a set of 13 destinations in neighboring countries and regions of Mali, I first estimate the additional migration costs generated by insecurity with a gravity model. In a second step, I analyse the aggregate effect of average road insecurity faced by each of the localities on its potential migration market. The findings show that the stock of economic migrants is only weakly correlated with average road insecurity, suggesting  that reduction in accessibility of some destinations due to conflict is offset by migration to alternative destinations. New seasonal departures in migration instead are reduced for individuals in localities with high average road insecurity, and these effects are stronger in localities affected by droughts.