Migration effects on living standards of the left behind. The case of overcrowding levels in Ecuadorian households

This paper reports an investigation of the effects of international migration on left-behind household overcrowding levels in Ecuador, a traditional migrating country. To do so, we use the universe of the Ecuadorian population collected in the Census of Population and Dwelling 2010. Using an instrumental variable regression model, we find a negative association between international migration and the overcrowding level of such household. Additionally, we verify the key role of remittances in order to ameliorate the overcrowding in the left-behind.