Showing papers on "Human migration published in 1997"

Migration as a business: the case of trafficking.

Abstract: A case is made for treating international migration as a global business which has both legitimate and illegitimate sides. The migration business is conceived as a system of institutionalized networks with complex profit and loss accounts, including a set of institutions, agents and individuals each of which stands to make a commercial gain. The article focuses on migrant trafficking, the core of the illegitimate business. Migrant trafficking, a subject of growing political concern, is recognized by migration experts and policy makers to be undermining international collaborative efforts to produce ordered migration flows. Trafficking, widely condemned for its inhuman practices and links to international organized crime, is also believed to be increasing in scale and sophistication. Our model conceives of trafficking as an intermediary part of the global migration business facilitating movement of people between origin and destination countries. The model is divided into three stages: the mobilization and recruitment of migrants; their movement en route; and their insertion and integration into labour markets and host societies of destination countries. At each stage of the model we describe the trafficking business, its systematic organization and its methods of operation: its inputs and outputs; its use of a set of common geographical routes; its methods of smuggling migrants; its systems of planning and information-gathering; and its division into a set of technical and organizational tasks. This division of roles is seen as critical for trafficking’s survival. The model also suggests how through the existence of common routes and networks of contacts, traffickers increasingly channel migrants, thus determining the geography of movement. We also demonstrate the model with available evidence on trafficking mainly in and across Europe and attempt thereby to show how trafficking operates both theoretically and in practice. Our conceptualization of trafficking as a business has important implications for the study of migration and for policy makers. For the former, trafficking blurs meaningful conceptual distinctions between legal and illegal migration. For the latter, trafficking presents new challenges in the management and control of migration flows across borders. In particular it suggests the need to look at immigration controls in new ways, placing sharper focus on the institutions and vested interests involved rather than on the migrants themselves.

Chapter 12 Internal migration in developed countries

Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter describes the concept of migration, selected facts about internal migration in developed countries, and the determinants of migration. In most advanced societies, inter-regional migration is a major mechanism through which labor resources are redistributed geographically, in response to changing economic and demographic forces. The determinants of migration are the factors that affect migration—including characteristics both of places and of persons and their families—while consequences of migration refer both to the performance of migrants in their new locations relative to a benchmark, such as their presumed performance in their former place of residence had they not moved and to the impacts that migrants have on others in sending and receiving areas. The human capital model provides a powerful analytical tool for the study of numerous important issues in labor economics, but this model does not provide a comparably powerful explanation of migration.

China's "tidal wave" of migrant labor: what can we learn from Mexican undocumented migration to the United States?

Abstract: The purpose of this article is to place Chinese labor migration from agriculture within the context of the literature on labor mobility in developing countries by comparing it to undocumented Mexican migration to the United States. The similarities fall within three general areas: the migration process the economic and social position of migrants at their destination and the agrarian structure and process of agricultural development that has perpetuated circular migration. The last section of the article draws upon these similarities as well as differences between the two countries to generate predictions concerning the development of labor migration in China. (EXCERPT)

The linkage between immigration and internal migration in large metropolitan areas in the United States.

Abstract: "This paper investigates the relationship between the internal migration of native-born workers and flows of immigrants to the United States using the 1980 and 1990 U.S. Census Bureau microsamples.... Based on the estimation of three sets of regression models for five overlapping samples of the largest metropolitan areas in the United States and five mutually exclusive segments of the labor force, this analysis shows that the finding of a significant linkage between internal migration and immigration depends critically on the empirical experiment used. In direct opposition to previous published research, we conclude that net migration of the native born for metropolitan areas is either positively related or unrelated to immigration. Our models show that the net migration loss of unskilled native workers from metropolitan areas is probably a function of those cities' population size rather than immigrant flow to them. We conclude that the net migration loss of native-born workers from large metropolitan areas is more likely the result of industrial restructuring than of competition with immigrants."

Remitting Behaviour of “Temporary” and “Permanent” Migrants: The Case of Greeks in Germany and Australia

Abstract: This paper makes the point that migrants have different motives for sending remittances and remittance receivers have different claims on migrants' income, depending on whether people move to accumulate capital to improve their living at home after they return — temporary migration — or to start a new life in a foreign country — permanent migration. This hypothesis is empirically tested with data from Greek–German and Greek–Australian migration. The findings attest to the fact that German remittances constitute obligatory income streams to close family at home, while Australian remittances are gifts. Some quantitative estimates of the relative impact of individual factors on remittances are also obtained. Some hints are also given for a changing remitting behaviour of Greek migrants in Germany, along with the changing character of migration in that country.

Market Transition, Government Policies, and Interprovincial Migration in China: 1983-1988

Abstract: A 10% random sample of China 1988 2/1000 Fertility and Birth Control Survey data was analyzed to determine to what extent Chinas transition to a market economy affects migration patterns in the country and to what extent the government policy of establishing rural enterprises reduced migration from rural areas. The survey was conducted by Chinas State Family Planning Commission in July-August 1988 and covered a nationally representative sample of individuals aged 15-64 years at the time of the survey. Data were collected on interprovincial migration trends for all members in the households surveyed. The study findings concerning individual-level characteristics of interprovincial migration during 1983-88 are consistent with previous research in China and in other developing countries. However unique to the findings for China is the effect of province-level characteristics. Individuals are more likely to move out of provinces with a large population and a lower level of economic development. This phenomenon is in line with classic arguments about migration and economic development. Foreign investment slightly reduces migration out of provinces receiving investment with migrants being more likely to choose provinces with high levels of foreign capital investment as destinations. Foreign investment leads to both direct job opportunities and secondary opportunities created by economic growth.

On the Intersectoral Migration of Agricultural Labor

Abstract: Labor is the single most important factor in determining national income. As economies grow, agricultural labor declines as a share of total labor and converges to a level of 2 or 3 percent. Off-farm migration facilitates the development of nonagriculture, but historically the process spans decades. The authors argue that the pace of the process is a fundamental outcome of a dynamic equilibrium based on expectations of lifetime earnings and the cost of migration. The authors present an empirical model of the determinants of intersectoral migration. One fundamental determinant is income differences across sectors. As such, migration should stop when income differences reach a certain level. The authors provide a method of measuring the level at which intersectoral migration will cease. While there are credible reasons for a permanent difference to exist between sectoral incomes, the authors find no empirical evidence of a permanent wedge.

Migration and labour market integration in late nineteenth-century England and Wales

Abstract: This study examines aspects of internal labor migration in late nineteenth-century Britain. "In section I a simple framework is set out which stresses the links between migration and labour market integration. In section II the evidence on the character of migration flows their magnitude and direction is examined. Section III focuses on the determinants of migration flows at the county level particularly from rural southern counties. This is followed in section IV with an examination of the effect of rural-urban migration on agricultural wage rates. Section V considers the evidence on regional labour market integration and is followed by a brief conclusion summarising the results." (EXCERPT)

Dynamics of Immigration: Return Migration to Western Mexico

Abstract: sections of text, not to exceed three paragraphs, to be quoted without written permission, provided that full attribution is given to the source and the above copyright notice is included. iii Foreword Return migration is a subject rarely discussed during the national debate on immigration, let alone during California's own public dialog on restriction of public services to immigrants. In fact, in the long history of immigration to America there has been a tradition of many new arrivals returning to their homeland—some soon after arrival, others a few years after migration. The image of people moving back and forth across our national borders is not a sharp one in the public's mind because the data that document this flow are few, and the belief is well established that people who come to America come to stay. This report on return migration to western Mexico begins to fill in a vivid picture of California's immigrant population. Using a rich and historically diverse survey dataset of families in western Mexico, Belinda Reyes, the author of Dynamics of Immigration: Return Migration to Western Mexico, paints a portrait of substantial return migration to hometowns and cities in Mexico. Moreover, she finds that those immigrants who remain in the United States are quite different from those who return to their Mexican iv homeland. Those who choose to stay in California have the best employment experiences, the highest wages, and the most education— just the kind of selection that has been the key feature of U.S. immigration for many generations. The author draws some implications from this selectivity for demands on social services and public service. She suggests that the driving force of movement to California by Mexicans from western Mexico is well-paying jobs, and not the availability of plentiful benefits from our social service programs. While the survey data cover only the states of western Mexico, these states are historically the most important region sending immigrants to California and the United States. This study is the second in a series of reports by the Public Policy Institute of California that focus on an understanding of the process of immigration to California, and on the implication of that process for the long-term economic health of the state and its people. An earlier PPIC report, Undocumented Immigration to California: 1980–1993, provides the first solid annual estimates of undocumented flows over a 13-year period, and suggests that those …

Migration for and against Agriculture in Eight Chinese Villages

Abstract: The results of a study on the relations between migration and agriculture are presented. The study covered eight villages in four different provinces of China. "The village studies suggest that it is possible to identify a range of conditions in which migration has come to variously supplement subsidize or substitute for village agriculture. Indeed they suggest that migration is a supplement to agriculture and non-agriculture activities in richer regions a subsidy for agriculture and non-agriculture activities in mid-income regions and a substitute for agriculture in poor and remote regions. In all the villages studied the farmers themselves have concluded that agriculture is an unprofitable unattractive and even redundant economic activity." (EXCERPT)

Population migration in the European Union

Abstract: This collection of studies by various authors aims to provide a comprehensive picture of migration flows and their influence on population redistribution within each of the countries of the European Union prior to 1995. The book is divided into three sections. The first section examines international migration patterns from east-west and north-south perspectives migration within the European Union and asylum seeking. The second section concerns national perspectives; there are chapters on Belgium Denmark Germany Greece Spain France Ireland Italy the Netherlands Portugal and the United Kingdom. The third section examines the impact of migration on population developments in the European Union and includes papers on migration policy and population projections.

Southern Europe and the New Immigrants

Abstract: Contents: The International Migration Turnaround in Southern Europe Immigrants in the Athens Labour Market: A Comparative Study of Albanians, Egyptians and Filipinos Foreign Labour Immigration in High-Unemployment Spain: the Role of African-Born Workers in the Girona Labour Market Gender-Selective Migration: Somalian and Filipina Women in Rome Indians in Lisbon: Ethnic Entrepreneurship and the Migration Process Migrants as Networkers: the Economics of Bangladeshi Migration to Rome Citizenship Rights and Migration Policies: the Case of Maghrebi Migrants in Italy and Spain Immigrants and Politics in Left-Wing Bologna: Results from Participatory Action Research De facto Refugees in Portugal and Spain: State Policy, Informal Strategies and the Labour Market The Contributors Index.

Rural‐Urban Migration and Poverty: The Case of India

Abstract: Summaries What is the relationship between rural‐urban migration and poverty? This article takes up this question, which is by no means new, but about which there is no consensus. The importance of migration for urban as well as for rural areas, for poverty and for poverty alleviation policies is considerable, and the article indicates that more research is needed, particularly taking into account both sides of the migration streams. Rates of urbanisation, which have remained low in countries like India, underestimate the importance of migration. Migrants in cities continue to maintain close links with, and return to, their areas of origin, thus limitiing urban population growth and complicating analyses and policies. The article, focusing on migration to Calcutta but also drawing on all‐India survey data and other evidence, discusses the following issues: the role of poverty versus inequality in migration; the migrants' districts of origin; the socio‐economic background of migrants; the migrants' income and expenditure, compared to non‐migrating groups; and whether migrants are able to improve their income over time.

Internal migration in Russia during the economic transition.

Abstract: A World Bank demographer analyzes patterns of migration among Russia's regions from shortly before the break-up of the Soviet Union and the onset of economic reforms through the first five years of independence. The analysis focuses on two large migration streams currently occurring in Russia—the return migration of Russians, as well as Russian speakers, to Russia from the other republics of the former Soviet Union and massive out-migration from the Russian North to the western and southern portions of the country. These migration streams are assessed in terms of both their impacts on current population numbers in Russia's regions and as a basis for projections of population change into the early 21st century. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: JI1, J61, R23. 4 figures, 4 tables, 31 references.

Transnationalism and vocabularies of motive in international migration: the case of Israelis in the United States.

Abstract: The great body of recent work on international migration has generally considered immigration as a permanent movement and explored the phenomenon from either a micro or macro perspective. Transnationalism offers a new model that integrates these dichotomized views. This paper uses the perspective of transnationalism to explore the motives of Israeli immigrants in the U.S. Integrating insights from both micro and world systems perspectives findings emphasize the importance of personal and macro-level networks as well as Israelis international culture and experience as both facilitating and giving meaning to their presence in the United States. (EXCERPT)

Migration Transition or Migration Transformation in the Asian Dragon Economies

Abstract: It has been claimed that economic progress in the Asian dragon economies (Singapore Hong Kong South Korean and Taiwan) has produced a switch in these states from net emigration to net immigration. This article is concerned [with investigating] the recent changes experienced by the migration systems of these four countries. It contends that the term `migration transition has been incorrectly employed by many researchers imbuing it with explanatory power and seeking to raise the `migration transition to the level of a theoretical model. Instead the authors prefer to conceive of changes in the migration processes in terms of a transformation driven by the powerful but diverse influences of globalization. (EXCERPT)

Globalization and Transnational Migration A Study of Recent Chinese Capitalist Migration from the Asian Pacific to Canada

Abstract: This article utilizes the perspective of transnationalism to explain Chinese capitalist migration from the Asian Pacific to Canada in the context of globalization. It is argued that transnationalis...

Changing patterns of immigration to Germany 1945-1995: ethnic origins demographic structure future prospects.

Abstract: Immigration trends to Germany are analyzed over the period from 1945 to 1995. Separate consideration is given to the migration of ethnic Germans and German citizens including migration between the two German states and return migration from the countries to the East; the immigration of foreigners including labor migration and asylum seekers and refugees; the structure and status of the foreign population in Germany; and the political implications of immigration. (ANNOTATION)

Europe, Africa, and international migration: An uncomfortable triangle of interests

Abstract: Arguing that research on migration and the state has focused primarily on receiving states, this article places sending and receiving states in a dynamic historical context within which states strive to protect political, economic, and socio‐cultural interests. This framework is applied to the Euro‐African migration system and leads to three primary findings. First, migration flows from Africa have diversified in terms of origins and destinations and no longer necessarily follow patterns of colonial relations. Such a trend calls into question the efficacy of bilateral responses. Second, African states have clearly demonstrated interests in managing emigration and return migration and need to be considered as partners in policy responses. Third, African migrant communities are exerting greater independence vis‐a‐vis sending and receiving states. This diversification and growing independence poses interesting challenges for sending and receiving state policy in the Euro‐African migration system.

Sudanese migration to the new world: socio-economic characteristics

Abstract: Sudanese migration is one of the most recent waves from the developing world to the U.S. and Canada....This article...focuses on the period since the advent of the current Islamic military government of Lieutenant General Umar al Bashir in1989 the Gulf War of 1991 and the renewal of the civil war in the Sudan. The article demonstrates that an earlier small temporary migration from the Sudan to the New World based principally (but not exclusively) on seeking higher education has been replaced by a larger migration stemming from political unrest economic stringency and a perceived lack of choice in migration. The article also provides basic descriptive data on this phenomenon. (EXCERPT) (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA)

People, jobs and mobility in the new Europe

Abstract: Part 1 Introduction: Concepts and Values Migration, Employment and Spatial Restructuring in Europe Economic Restructuring, Changing Lifestyles and Migration. Part 2 Empirical Overviews Economic Dynamics and Regional Types in Europe Employment Decentralization and Population Redistribution in Europe Economic Restructuring and Socio-Spatial Mobility in Europe: The Role of International Migrants. Part 3 People, Jobs and Restructuring in European Peripheral Regions Rural Depopulation in Turkey: Migration and Economic Restructuring Portugal in the 1980s and 1990s: Economic Restructuring and Population Mobility Youth Migration, Labour Markets and Locality in the West of Ireland Population Redistribution in the Sparsely Population Periphery: The Nordic Case The Transition of Labour Markets in Formally Centrally Planned Economies New Patterns of Population Mobility in the Former Centrally Planned Economies of East Europe. Part 4 People Jobs and Restructuring in European Core Regions Migration and Socio-Economic Restructuring in Old Industrial Regions: The Cases of North East England and the Ruhr Area Population Mobility and New Industrial Districts: The Case of the "Third Italy" The Role of the Technological Change in the Redistribution of Jobs and People in France Migration, Business Cycles and Unemployment in West Germany Migration and the Global City: The Case of London Migration, Dualization and Tertiarization: Brussels Economic Restructuring, Housing and Residential Mobility in the Randstad Holland. Part 5 Conclusion Migration in Fordist and Post-Fordist Economies.

Human Migration and Agricultural Expansion: A Threat to the Maya Tropical Forests

Abstract: A s in other parts of Central America, the onceremote tropical forests of Guatemala are being cut and burned to create new farmland. Evidence of the threat to the ancient lands of the Mayas comes from timeseries Landsat Thematic Mapper observations and analysis. In this paper we estimate deforestation rates and look for trends. Satellite images were used to quantify and monitor rates, patterns, and trends of forest clearing during a period corresponding to new road construction and significant human migration into the newly accessible forest region. The Peten District (36,000 square kilometers) is the largest and 'most remote region of Guatemala. The northern part of the district, along with adjacent Mexican states (Chiapas and Campeche) and Belize (Rio Bravo Conservation District), constitutes the largest contiguous tropical moist forest left in Central America. The center of the ancient Maya empire, it contains many of the largest and most famous classic Maya sites, including the popular tourist attraction Tikal National Park. In the thousand years since Maya culture waned, this area had not experienced significant population increases until the mid-1960s, when government policies began to encourage colonization of the region. In 1997 the Peten population is estimated at 500,000 people (N.B. Schwartz, pers. commun.) Figure /.The Maya Biosphere Reserve (hatched area) lies in the northern half of the Peten District of Guatemala. Time-series satellite imagery revealed a pattern of slash-and-burn clearing during the time that new roads were being built, allowing significant human migration into the reserve. Annual forest-clearing rates in the early 1990s exceeded 3 percent in the buffer zone south of the reserve and in some of its more accessible corridors. Satellite remote sensing is a viable technology in isolated tropical regions where other methods are not cost effective and current information is needed for establishing conservation priorities. The Maya Biosphere Reserve in the Peten District was established in 1990 by the congress of Guatemala. The reserve contains three types of management units. A core area of national parks and biological reserves has the highest level of protection. A large multiple-use zone allows some forms of extractive harvesting, ranching, farming, hunting, and commercial logging. A buffer zone, south of the reserve, has no land-use restrictions (Whitacre 1995). Although conservation organizations have been working diligently to develop sustainable programs in the reserve, real advances in conservation are difficult to achieve because of increasing human migration. Landless farmers (milperos) practice slasli-and-burn agriculture and have had few incentives to employ more intensive and sustainable methods (such as terracing), perhaps out of fear that they could be evicted from the land (Schwartz 1990). Whitacre (1996) cites other detrimental impacts on the Maya Biosphere Reserve, including road building, oil exploration, cattle ranching, hunting, taking of exotic fauna for pets and tropical plants for the floral trade, and high-grade logging of mahogany (Swietenia macropbylla) and cedar (Cedrela odorata). The socioeconomic and cultural forces driving the recent migration and forest conversion have been reported by Stuart (1 991); Southgate and Basterrechea

Migrations in the Urban—Rural Hierarchy of China: Insights from the Microdata of the 1987 National Survey

Abstract: Microdata from the 1987 National Population Survey are used to analyze internal migration in China in the 1980s. The focus is on the impact of migration policies on rural-urban migration. "There are two main findings. First although the migration policy resulted in a very low migration level and systematic distortions in migration schedules its encouragement of downward migrations was very ineffective whereas its control on rural-to-urban migrations was partially weakened by the strong upward aspirations of rural families awakened by recent economic reform. Consequently net in-migration contributed substantially to the growth both of city and of town populations. Second although the level of education had a strong positive effect on the migration propensities both of males and of females in general it had a strong negative effect on the migration propensities of females at the time of marriage a finding which suggests that the families at subsistence income level tended to marry their daughters to grooms in other communities in order to reduce the risk of familial income shortfalls." (EXCERPT)

Interregional migration in socialist countries: the case of China.

Abstract: "This paper analyzes changing interregional migration in China and reveals that the recent eastward migration reverses patterns of migration under Mao. It finds that investment variables are more important than the conventional variables of income and job opportunities in determining China's recent interregional migration. It suggests that both state policy and the global force influence interregional migration, challenging the popular view that the socialist state is the only critical determinant. This paper also criticizes Mao's approach to interregional migration and discusses the impact of migration on development."

Migration as family strategy: Rural-urban labor migration in India during the twentieth century

Abstract: The article analyzes the role of families in processes of rural-urban migration in India in the twentieth century. It shows that the continuous circular form of this migration should be explained as a consequence of rural family strategies. Already established kinship relations or marriage opportunities in the future act as a centripetal force, drawing the labor migrants back to their communities time and again. In addition, the article shows how labor migration is informed by economic and cultural considerations which determine the socioeconomic behavior of men and women.

Population growth impacts of zero net international migration.

Abstract: In a country such as the United States the contribution of net international migration to overall population change overshadows the contribution of natural increase....Some analysts have assumed that if the same number of people leave and enter the country each year then the effect of net international migration will be zero. This article examines that assumption and shows that it is fallacious. Examining the direct indirect total and negative demographic impacts of zero net international migration through simulations with demographic data we demonstrate that zero net international migration is not the same and therefore does not have the same demographic results and implications as zero international migration. We conclude that zero net international migration should not be confused with zero international migration. (EXCERPT)