Bilesha Weeraratne
Biographic Data
| ID | 1253952 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Bilesha Weeraratne |
| GIVEN NAMES | Bilesha |
| FAMILY NAME | Weeraratne |
| SIGNATURE | WEERARATNE B |
| AFFILIATIONS | Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8232-0937 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 7 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 21 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 7 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2016 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Restricting mothers’ international migration and human capital investment
International migration offers significant economic opportunities for developing countries, but it can also separate parents from their children, potentially harming child development. This paper examines the effects of restricting mothers’ international migration on left-behind children, leveraging a unique Sri Lankan policy that restricted mothers with children under age five from migrating abroad for employment. Using a difference-in-differenc…
Migrant worker policies and the spillover effects on educational outcomes and employment aspirations of national children in the Gulf
This paper examines the socio-economic and socio-demographic profile of foreign-born children in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to understand their influence on current educational and future employment outcomes of national children. The study uses country level population data and aggregate level student performance data from Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) for selected GCC countries. The findings show that foreign-born s…
Covid-19 pandemic induced wage theft: Evidence from Sri Lankan migrant workers
The COVID-19 pandemic-related labour market issues and the rapid departure from countries of destination have heightened wage theft issues faced by migrant workers. This article provides scientific evidence on pandemic-induced wage theft experienced by migrant workers with the aim of minimising migrant workers’ exposure to similar cases of injustice in the future. The qualitative and quantitative analysis of data on migrant workers who returned t…
Migrant Workers and the Covid-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Sri Lankans Abroad
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the unfair and vulnerable situations endured by migrant workers. This article explores the realities of migrant workers stranded overseas during the pandemic. Focusing on evidence from the experiences of Sri Lankan migrants, it aims to create better policies and frameworks to improve their conditions. This study uses qualitative and quantitative data collected from Sri Lankan migrant workers. The analysis of migrants…
Ban on female migrant workers: Skills-differentiated evidence from Sri Lanka
This study examines the skills-differentiated impact of a restrictive female labour migration policy in Sri Lanka using monthly departure data from 2012 to 2018 in a difference-in-difference model. The policy has resulted in decreasing departures among lower-skilled groups—female domestic, unskilled, semi-skilled, and skilled workers—and increasing departures among middle-level and professional workers. The decrease in departures of lower-skilled…
Migrant workers’ wage offers: The paradox of the involvement of recruitment intermediaries
Recruitment of labor migrants is often mediated by informal intermediaries (subagents) liaising between formal recruitment agents and potential migrants. Many countries of origin of migrant workers are struggling to reign in subagents in the recruitment process for labor migration. This article shows that focusing on migrants can compensate for this difficulty. Using primary data collected from current and potential migrant households in fixed ef…
Protecting the Welfare of Children and its Causal Effect on Limiting Mother's Labour Migration
In June 2013 Sri Lanka introduced a new policy, the Family Background Report ( FBR ), to restrict mothers migrating for domestic work. This article performs an impact evaluation of the FBR using monthly departure statistics of female migrant workers from January 2012 to December 2014 in a difference‐in‐difference methodology. The identification is based on the inter‐temporal variation between the treatment and control groups. As anticipated, the …
Covid-19 pandemic induced wage theft: Evidence from Sri Lankan migrant workers
The COVID-19 pandemic-related labour market issues and the rapid departure from countries of destination have heightened wage theft issues faced by migrant workers. This article provides scientific evidence on pandemic-induced wage theft experienced by migrant workers with the aim of minimising migrant workers’ exposure to similar cases of injustice in the future. The qualitative and quantitative analysis of data on migrant workers who returned t…
Protecting the Welfare of Children and its Causal Effect on Limiting Mother's Labour Migration
In June 2013 Sri Lanka introduced a new policy, the Family Background Report ( FBR ), to restrict mothers migrating for domestic work. This article performs an impact evaluation of the FBR using monthly departure statistics of female migrant workers from January 2012 to December 2014 in a difference‐in‐difference methodology. The identification is based on the inter‐temporal variation between the treatment and control groups. As anticipated, the …
Migrant Workers and the Covid-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Sri Lankans Abroad
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the unfair and vulnerable situations endured by migrant workers. This article explores the realities of migrant workers stranded overseas during the pandemic. Focusing on evidence from the experiences of Sri Lankan migrants, it aims to create better policies and frameworks to improve their conditions. This study uses qualitative and quantitative data collected from Sri Lankan migrant workers. The analysis of migrants…
Protecting the Welfare of Children and its Causal Effect on Limiting Mother's Labour Migration
In June 2013 Sri Lanka introduced a new policy, the Family Background Report ( FBR ), to restrict mothers migrating for domestic work. This article performs an impact evaluation of the FBR using monthly departure statistics of female migrant workers from January 2012 to December 2014 in a difference‐in‐difference methodology. The identification is based on the inter‐temporal variation between the treatment and control groups. As anticipated, the …
Migrant workers’ wage offers: The paradox of the involvement of recruitment intermediaries
Recruitment of labor migrants is often mediated by informal intermediaries (subagents) liaising between formal recruitment agents and potential migrants. Many countries of origin of migrant workers are struggling to reign in subagents in the recruitment process for labor migration. This article shows that focusing on migrants can compensate for this difficulty. Using primary data collected from current and potential migrant households in fixed ef…
Ban on female migrant workers: Skills-differentiated evidence from Sri Lanka
This study examines the skills-differentiated impact of a restrictive female labour migration policy in Sri Lanka using monthly departure data from 2012 to 2018 in a difference-in-difference model. The policy has resulted in decreasing departures among lower-skilled groups—female domestic, unskilled, semi-skilled, and skilled workers—and increasing departures among middle-level and professional workers. The decrease in departures of lower-skilled…
Migrant Workers and the Covid-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Sri Lankans Abroad
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the unfair and vulnerable situations endured by migrant workers. This article explores the realities of migrant workers stranded overseas during the pandemic. Focusing on evidence from the experiences of Sri Lankan migrants, it aims to create better policies and frameworks to improve their conditions. This study uses qualitative and quantitative data collected from Sri Lankan migrant workers. The analysis of migrants…
Covid-19 pandemic induced wage theft: Evidence from Sri Lankan migrant workers
The COVID-19 pandemic-related labour market issues and the rapid departure from countries of destination have heightened wage theft issues faced by migrant workers. This article provides scientific evidence on pandemic-induced wage theft experienced by migrant workers with the aim of minimising migrant workers’ exposure to similar cases of injustice in the future. The qualitative and quantitative analysis of data on migrant workers who returned t…
Migrant worker policies and the spillover effects on educational outcomes and employment aspirations of national children in the Gulf
This paper examines the socio-economic and socio-demographic profile of foreign-born children in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to understand their influence on current educational and future employment outcomes of national children. The study uses country level population data and aggregate level student performance data from Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) for selected GCC countries. The findings show that foreign-born s…
Restricting mothers’ international migration and human capital investment
International migration offers significant economic opportunities for developing countries, but it can also separate parents from their children, potentially harming child development. This paper examines the effects of restricting mothers’ international migration on left-behind children, leveraging a unique Sri Lankan policy that restricted mothers with children under age five from migrating abroad for employment. Using a difference-in-differenc…
Migration and Labor Dynamics (7 works) · Economics (6 works) · Demographic economics (5 works) · Economic growth (5 works) · Employment and Welfare Studies (5 works) · Political science (5 works) · Labour economics (4 works) · Sri lanka (4 works) · Business (3 works) · Migrant workers (3 works)