Restricting mothers' migration: New evidence on children’s health and education
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 19-May-2026 14:16 ET (19-May-2026 18:16 GMT/UTC)
A new study shows that restricting international migration for mothers with young children can improve children's health and educational outcomes without impacting household income. Using a real-world policy change in Sri Lanka, researchers found fewer hospital visits and better school progress among affected children. The findings provide rare evidence from an implemented migration policy and highlight how early maternal presence can shape long-term human capital investment.
At a time when public policy is overwhelmingly shaped by short-term pressures, Prof. Shlomi Segall, from the Department of Political Science and the Philosophy, Economics and Political Science program at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, challenges readers in his new book, The Future of Equality, to confront a fundamental moral question: what do principles of distributive justice say about people who do not yet exist?
IIASA researchers explored why mortality among adults of working age remains high in India alongside rapid economic growth, finding that education – at both individual and community levels – is more strongly associated with lower premature mortality than income or household wealth.
Approaches by some European countries and Australia to protect energy consumers could help countries worldwide phase out harmful electricity disconnections without destabilising power markets, new research has found.
In Bangladesh, programs targeting ultra-poor, rural households can help families escape extreme poverty. However, the programs may have the unintended consequence of reinforcing gender gaps, a new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign finds.
Young adults in Sweden feel significantly worse than older people in almost all areas of life. While older Swedes rank among the happiest in the world, young adults struggle with loneliness and psychological distress. These are the findings of a new large-scale study on flourishing in Sweden, published in the International Journal of Wellbeing and conducted by researchers at the Stockholm School of Economics, Lund University, Oslo Metropolitan University and Harvard University.