This paper examines the relationship between international migration and source country fertility. The impact of international migration on source country fertility may have a number of causes, including a transfer of destination countries' fertility norms and an incentive to acquire more education. We provide a rigorous test of the diffusion of fertility norms using original and detailed data on migration. Our results provide evidence of a strong transfer of fertility norms from migrants to their country of origin.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID1324588_code459177.pdf?abstractid=1324588&mirid=5

International Migration, Transfers of Norms and Home Country Fertility

This study based on Brazilian data from 1976 compared the fertility of migrants and stayers at both origin and destination areas. Observed patterns of fertility differentials were then analyzed in terms of 4 hypotheses of fertility behavior focused on processes of socialization adaptation selectivity and disruption. In the study sample 31% of migrants moved from rural to urban areas 45% of moves were between urban areas and 20% of moves were between rural areas. Among rural-to-urban migrants only 1/3 moved from traditional to modern regions. To uncover the main patterns of migrant and stayer fertility differentials in the study population the major flows of migrants by origin and destination were disaggregated by recency of migration education and age. The overall conclusions were as follows: 1) rural-urban migration flows need to be disaggregated into various modern/traditional cross-classifications (e.g. modern-rural traditional-urban frontier-urban) and greater emphasis needs to be placed on rural-urban urban-urban and rural-rural flows; 2) no robust quantitative measures of migrant-stayer fertility differentials held across migrant groups implying that migrants differing in terms of age education origin and destination are likely to behave in significantly variable fashion with regard to stayer standards of fertility behavior; 3) migrant groups with overall lower fertility levels such as the young and better educated are less likely to experience significant fertility reduction to bridge the origin/destination fertility gap; 4) rural-to-rural migrants do not appear to experience any lasting fertility reduction even when they move to areas with lower overall fertility rates; 5) urban-to-rural migrants tend to bridge a larger fraction of the uphill fertility gap than rural-to-urban migrants; and 6) there was evidence of partial adaptation for most migrant categories once disruption effects disappear and evidence consistent with the socialization hypothesis (no fertility reduction for at least 1 generation) was apparent for migrants originating in the least developed parts of Brazil the frontier region and the traditional-rural region.

Selectivity adaptation or disruption? A comparison of alternative hypotheses on the effects of migration on fertility: the case of Brazil

The assimilationist explanation for immigrant fertility patterns is that they reflect those of the home country and decline as the immigrants adapt to the new culture. This study analyzes the effect of sending-country fertility levels on immigrant fertility patterns in the US. Data for the analysis were drawn from the 1980 US Census 5% Public Use Microdata Sample and consisted of women aged 30-50 in 1980 who were born in China (including Taiwan and Hong Kong) India Korea the Philippines Colombia Mexico Cuba the Dominican Republic and Jamaica. They were divided into 2 cohorts: thoses who came to the US before age 23 and those who were older than 23 at time of emigration. In the 1st part of the analysis differentials in children ever born were used as the measure of fertility and demographic and social controls were age at 1st marriage duration of marriage and education. Measures of assimilation were years since immigrating marriage to a US-born spouse and degree of English spoken. In the 2nd part of the analysis 2 further controls were added 1 representing the net reproduction rate from the UN Demographic Yearbook 1981 and another representing a factor for positive selectivity of immigrants based on education. The study showed that the most significant factor in the persistence of high fertility among the immigrants was the prevailing fertility level of the sending country although this effect was weakest among immigrants who had been positively selected. Moreover the fertility effect of the sending countrys fertility levels was found to be strongest among the cohort that had been in the US longer thus contradicting the assimilationist theory that fertility necessarily declines as the immigrants adapt to US culture.

Immigrant Selectivity and Fertility Adaptation in the United States

This paper examines the relationship between international migration and source country fertility. The impact of international migration on source country fertility may have a number of causes, including a transfer of destination countries' fertility norms and an incentive to acquire more education. It provides provide a rigorous test of the diffusion on of fertility norms using original and detailed data on migration. The results provide evidence of a significant transfer of fertility norms from migrants to their country of origin: a one percent decrease in the fertility norm to which migrants are exposed reduces home country fertility by about 0.3 percent for origin countries.

/pdf/international-migration-transfers-of-norms-and-home-country-1xqgqeo50a.pdf

Population and development: A survey

Policy-makers and scholars alike have expressed concern over the high rates of urban concentration or "metropolization" of the Latin American population in recent decades. Causation of a substantial, though variable proportion of this phenomenon is attributable to urbanwards migrations from smaller centers and rural areas. The purpose of the present paper is to examine two interrelated sub-questions generated by the massive movement of people into large metropolitan areas of Latin America. First, we will be concerned with investigating fertility differentials between natives and different groups of migrants as an exercise in the study of the adjustment of migrant behaviour to life in larger cities. Secondly, we will concentrate on ascertaining the direct and indirect contribution made by migrants to metropolitan city growth in selected Latin American cities.

George Martine

Papers

Migrant Fertility Adjustment and Urban Growth in Latin America