Staying for Benefits: The Effect of a Health and Family Planning Program on Out-Migration Patterns in Bangladesh*

There is concern that government programs or development aid alter the pattern of domestic migration. We exploit the quasi-random placement of a health and family planning program in Bangladesh to examine if the program changed migration patterns between 1979-91. We find the flow of out-migration to domestic destinations was 19 percent lower in the treatment than the comparison area for men and women when program differences were largest. Due to return migration, program effects diminished and the stock of migrants living outside the study area was lower for women at 9 percent and there were no significant effects for men