The ties that bind: the role of migrants in the uneven geography of international telephone traffic

Recent work suggests that migrants have been a major driving force in the dramatic growth of international telephony over recent decades, accounting for large rises in telephone calls between countries with strong immigrant/emigrant connections. Yet, the existing literature has done a poor job of evaluating the substantive importance of migrants in explaining large disparities in levels of bilateral voice traffic observed between different countries. It has also failed to go very far in examining how domestic and relational factors moderate (namely amplify or attenuate) the influence of migrant stocks on international calling. Our contribution addresses these gaps in the literature. For a sample, which includes a far larger number of countries than previous studies, we show that, together with shorter‐term visitors, bilateral migrant stocks emerge as the relational variable with one of the substantively largest influences over cross‐national patterns of telephone calls. We also find that the effect of bilateral migrant stocks on inter‐country telephone traffic is greater where the country pairs are richer and more spatially distant from one another.     

International Migration and the Demographic Transition: A Two‐Way Interaction

The paper explores the relationship between the demographic transition and international migration, that is, between population dynamics and direct connectivity between peoples. The first part examines how ideas conveyed by migrants to non‐migrants of their community of origin are susceptible to impact on practices that lead to the reduction of birth rates in source countries of migration and concludes that international migration may be one of the mechanisms through which demographic transition is disseminated. The second part shows that declining birth rates in origin countries generate a new profile of the migrant and suggests that future migrants will typically leave no spouses or children in the home country and therefore their objective will no longer be to improve the family’s standing at home for the mere reason that there is no longer such a family, but to increase opportunities for themselves. Migration policies of origin countries on remittances as well as those of destination countries on family reunification will have to be reconsidered.     

Immigrant Gateways and Hispanic Migration to New Destinations1

Our understanding of the underlying demographic components of population change in new Hispanic destinations is limited. In this paper, we (1) compare Hispanic migration patterns in traditional settlement areas with new growth in emerging Hispanic destinations; (2) examine the role of immigration vis‐à‐vis domestic migration in spurring Hispanic population redistribution; and (3) document patterns of migrant selectivity, distinguishing between in‐migrants and non‐migrant Hispanics at both the origin and destination. We use several recent datasets, including the 1990 and 2000 Public Use Microdata Samples (which include new regional geocodes), and the 2005 and 2006 files of the American Community Survey. Our results document the widespread dispersion of the Hispanic population over the 1990–2006 period from established Hispanic gateways into new Hispanic areas and other parts of the country. Nearly one‐half of Hispanic net migration in new destinations comes from domestic gains. In contrast, both established and other Hispanic areas depend entirely on immigration, with each losing domestic migrants to high growth areas. Migrant flows also are highly differentiated by education, citizenship, and nativity. To fully understand the spatial diffusion of Hispanics requires a new appreciation of the complex interplay among immigration, internal domestic migration, and fertility.     

Migrant Indebtedness: Bangladeshis in the GCC Countries

Labour migration affects family economics in at least two ways: one is the outflow of indispensable family resources to meet the expenses incurred in the migration process and the other is the transfer in cash or kind from migrants to their non‐migrating families. This study primarily addresses the former flow, that is sources of funds for migration and resulting migrant indebtedness. Drawing on the experiences of Bangladeshi migrants in the GCC countries, this study explores the economic cost of migration, the extent of migrant indebtedness, and the implications of remittances on migrant families. This research exposes the complexity and multiplicity of the economic costs of migration to the GCC countries and reports that Bangladeshi migration to the Gulf states runs on debt, with migrants and their families indebting themselves in the migration process.     

Determining the Causes and Durability of Transnational Labour Migration between Mexico and the United States: Some Empirical Findings

While the field of transnational migration studies is expanding, one important challenge is to broaden research from a mainly qualitative approach proving the existence of transnational migration phenomena toward efforts to quantify transnational migration and pay more attention to analysing its internal dynamics and interrelationships with other (ideal) types of migration. Based on a qualitative and quantitative empirical study of (trans)migrants moving between Puebla (Mexico) and the New York City region focused on the life and work trajectories of 648 individuals and on biographical life history interviews with about 40 Mexican migrants, the article is focused on analysing and explaining the number of trips as an important indicator for transnational migration (even if transmigration could be predominantly a subjective perception and practice without constant physical movement between countries). In order to establish the empirical existence of the transmigration phenomenon, a typology for distinguishing between different types of migrants is advanced and applied to those migrants captured in the survey. The influence of personal, familial, time‐, job‐, and community‐related factors on their decision‐making processes and the number of country trips are analysed. The empirical findings will be complemented by qualitative interview material to present the case of a transnationally organized family. This case study serves, first, to demonstrate that research on transmigrant household decision‐making strategies is complicated by the complexity of social and family networks, which make it difficult to clearly identify household units; second, it helps address the issue of the durability of the transmigration phenomenon by showing that transnational strategies can be adopted by family members over several generations, depending on individuals' changing needs and desires.     

Can Migration Foster Development in Mexico? The Case of Poverty and Inequality

The impact of migration on development can be analysed from a number of perspectives. This article focuses on poverty and inequality. It assesses the relative contribution of migrants to Mexico′s economy through remittances, compared to other Latin American countries; analyses the distributional impact of remittances (with an emphasis on the poor), and compares this impact to the counterfactual impact of migrants’ stay‐at‐home income. It explains the processes leading to scant economic success rates among poor international migrants. Finally, it describes the nature and impact of current Mexican migrant‐oriented policies, and recommends a shift in focus, to lessen emigration, increase the income of migrants, promote returns, and bolster the economic impact of returning migrants.     

The interrupted chain: traditional receiver countries,migration regimes,and the East European Jewish diaspora, 1918–39

This article focuses primarily on countries that had been, prior to 1914, among the most favored destinations for East European Jewish migrants: chiefly the United States, Canada, Palestine, Brazil and Argentina. In the inter-war years, these ceased to be the only ports of final entry for Jewish migrants. However, despite restrictive migration regimes and unfavorable economic conditions, traditional receiver countries continued to absorb the largest share of such migrants (the U. S. and Palestine, between them, accounting for over 800,000). Jewish migration to countries other than the United States peaked around 1933; was just about equal to the U. S.-bound migrant stream by 1938; and fell off in 1939–1940. The Jewish case raises several theoretical and methodological issues, including the definition of migrant motivation as well as the framing of immigration policy as products of mixed factors – both political and economic.     

Come Back or Stay? Spend Here or There? Return and Remittances: The Case of Moldova

This paper examines the determinants and consequences of temporary and permanent migration from the perspective of migrant source countries. Based on a large and detailed household dataset on migration in the Republic of Moldova, the most important factors that influence a respective migrant’s decision whether to return to the home country or to stay abroad for good are presented first. Second, the remittance behaviour of temporary and permanent migrants is analysed to investigate how developing countries benefit from either type of migration. The results indicate that the most important determinants of permanent migration relate to the economic conditions at home and abroad, as well as to the legal status of a migrant in the host country. Furthermore, economic and political frustration plays an important role in the decision of permanent migrants not to come back. On the contrary, family ties as measured by the number of close family members at home act as a pull factor for migrant return. Interestingly, permanent migrants use source country networks that differ from those of temporary migrants, indicating that the return decision of individuals is influenced by the decision of their migrant peers. Concerning remittances, the results reveal that, in absolute terms, temporary migrants remit around 30 per cent more than their permanent counterparts. This outcome is surprising, because temporary migrants often reside in countries where wages are much lower. Overall, the findings indicate that when compared to permanent migration, temporary migration is favourable for developing countries, as it fosters not only repatriation of skills, but also higher remittances, and home savings.     

Family ties and economic stability concerns of migrant labour families in Jordan

74 labor migrant families from various socioeconomic classes in Amman, Jordan were interviewed to examine changes in relationships among family members, extended family, and neighbors and their concerns about economic stability in the host country, Jordan, and the world market. Another purpose was to determine how current migration policies of the Arab oil-producing countries which prohibit labor migrants from bringing their families to the host country affect labor migration among families. The families consisted of either those who did or did not accompany the labor migrant. Overall labor migration affected unaccompanied families more than accompanied families, e.g., only 19% of the unaccompanied families reported increased family unity compared with 56% of accompanied families. Problems within unaccompanied families increased in 43% of the cases but in only 6% of the accompanied families. Many of these problems resulted in children dropping out of school which reflected the control fathers had within the family, separation, or divorce. Yet labor migration reduced family ties with extended family members and neighbors almost equally for both groups. Accompanied families were not as concerned about economic stability in Jordan as unaccompanied families (38% vs. 50%). Perhaps these families tended not to invest remittances received from the labor migrants working in Arab oil-producing countries in Jordan. Both groups were quite concerned about the economic stability in the host countries (66% and 72%, respectively) and the world market (59% and 62%, respectively), however. Since family unity suffers when families do not accompany labor migrants, it is suggested that oil-producing nations that depend on foreign labor should guarantee family unity as a human right.     

The Decline of International Migration as an Economic Force in Rural Areas: A Mexican Case Study

Since 2000, and especially since 2007, there has been a reduction in the importance of international migration and remittances in major global sending regions as a result of recession in receiving countries, anti‐immigrant policies, and improvement in economic opportunities in origin countries. A household survey in five rural communities in Zacatecas, Mexico, in 1995 and again in 2009 exemplifies these trends. Among youthful adults likely to have first migrated in the decade prior to each of these years, there was a significant drop in the proportion of active migrants. Among the active migrants, stays abroad became longer and more permanent, and their households exhibited fewer remittances, less family business ownership, and fewer local purchases, in 2009 compared to 1995. Finally, non‐migrant households greatly improved their economic status in relation to migrant households over the period, reaching approximate parity with their migrant counterparts.     

Labor Migration between Developing Countries: The Case of Paraguay and Argentina1

Despite the historical and numerical importance of international migration between Paraguay and Argentina, the socioeconomic forces affecting the dynamics of the flow remain largely unexplored. This article contributes to the understanding of migration movements between the Latin American countries by analyzing patterns of labor migration from two Paraguayan communities to Argentina. The analysis separates the process of migration into four segments representing different migration decisions that Paraguayan men face throughout their life course: first trip, first return, recurrent trips, and duration of additional trips. Results confirm that Paraguayan migration to Argentina is closely related to individual characteristics and wealth, the extent of migrant networks and experience, and changes in macroeconomic conditions. The relative importance of these factors on migration varies depending on the aspect of migration under consideration. More generally, the analysis shows that unlike migration between Mexico and the United States, Paraguayan migrants to Argentina tend to be positively selected with respect to educational attainment and skills. This reflects the higher transferability of skills between the two countries and the absence of large urban centers attracting internal migrants in Paraguay. In addition, results show that migration between Paraguay and Argentina is very responsive to fluctuations in macroeconomic conditions, particularly income differentials and peso over‐valuation. Government policies oriented towards the regulation of migration flows in the Southern Cone should pay closer attention to the impact of macroeconomic fluctuations on migration decisions, especially in the context of the Mercosur agreement.     

Re‐Thinking Migrants’ Networks and Social Capital: A Case Study of Iranians in Turkey

Existing research on international migration has focused on the importance of social networks and social capital in the countries of origin and destination. However, much less is known about the importance of social networks and associated social capital in transit countries. Drawing on ethnographic research on Iranian transit migrants in Turkey, this paper argues that migrant networks and social capital are equally important in transit countries. These networks, however, do not always generate positive social capital for Iranian migrants as there are scarce resources and there is no “enforceable trust”. Iranian migrant networks reorganized in a transit country like Turkey are not static structures and they are largely affected by macro‐variables such as current immigration and asylum policies of Turkey and Europe, transnationalism and globalization, and other place‐specific features like Turkey’s location bridging East and West, the existence of human smuggling networks, and its proximity to Iran. But Iranian migrant networks in Turkey are also affected by micro‐variables, such as gender, religion, and ethnicity of individual migrants.     

Local Institutional Quality and Return Migration: Evidence from Viet Nam

This article examines the link between local institutional quality in the home country and locational choices of international return migrants. We scrutinize the locational choices of Vietnamese return migrants to the south central and the south regions of Viet Nam in 2014. Binary and multinomial regression models are fitted to identify the influence of migrants’ individual attributes and the characteristics of regional destinations within Viet Nam. Our analysis reveals that both individual‐specific and region‐specific variables are significantly related to Vietnamese return migrants’ choices when registering for permanent residency back in their home country. More remarkably, we provide compelling evidence of the positive role of institutional quality at the local level in these migration decisions. Moreover, the effect of institutional quality differs with the characteristics of migrants: regions with better institutional quality are more attractive both to younger return migrants and to those who returned from host countries with better institutional quality.     

Moving the Migration Frontier: A Chinese Qiaoxiang Migration Model?

The New Chinese Migration is frequently contrasted to the earlier 19^th century mass migrations in terms of its origins (urban vs rural), migrant types (students and professionals vs coolies) and destinations (developed vs developing countries). A significant component of this new migration from the PRC however, continues to originate from the qiaoxiang – the emigrant‐sending areas of the 19^th century migrations. Based on an extensive review of the literature on the old and new Chinese migration, as well as several years of fieldwork in the major rural sending areas or qiaoxiang of China, we examine the continuities between the new qiaoxiang migration and the old, and propose a qiaoxiang migration model of the entrepreneurial nature of the migration enterprise to account for the sustained and global character of the mobility generated.     

Immigration Policies and the Factors of Migration from Developing Countries to South Korea: An Empirical Analysis

This study examines the impacts of immigration policies adopted by the Korean government, vis‐a‐vis other economic, social, demographic, and political factors, on labour migration from developing countries to South Korea using a modified gravity model. The model is extended to marriage‐related migrants to gain insights on marriage migration. The positive results in three out of the five immigration policies examined affirm that liberal policies are associated with increased migration, especially for preferred groups like ethnic Koreans, marriage migrants, and professionals. The positive effects of “push” factors such as population, unemployment, and inflation are generally similar to their effects on migration to the US, Canada, Germany, and the UK despite its more rapid transition from a migrant‐sending into a migrant‐receiving country. Political terror's non‐significance may be due to South Korea's limited asylum policy. Finally, the results of the extended model imply that marriage migration share plenty of similarities with labour migration.     

Emigration dynamics in Pakistan

This study of emigration dynamics in Pakistan focuses on Pakistan's position as one of the world's leading manpower exporters. The study opens with a review of the history of international labor from the subcontinent. The second section looks at the problems with the collection of data on international migration and then considers the volume of international migration, migrant destinations, return migration, undocumented migration, and the stock of migrant workers abroad. The third section describes the economic and demographic context for overseas migration through a consideration of gross national product and the remittances of migrant workers, growth in gross domestic product, poverty and income distribution, the state of the population, labor force and employment, a profile of migrant workers, and the government's employment policy. The political and social context for overseas migration is the topic of the next section, and the discussion centers on emigration policy, institutional arrangements for manpower export and the welfare of migrants, and the economic resettlement of return migrants. Consideration of the future trends in international migration from Pakistan focuses on the cyclic nature of overseas labor migration, the existence of networks to facilitate such migration, uneven distribution of enabling resources in Pakistan, the paucity of available data, and governmental/cultural factors that promote and restrict such migration. It is concluded that both individual Pakistanis and the government consider overseas migration a positive force but that a reliance on such an ad hoc measure has costs that have not been considered by Pakistan's policy-makers.     

Pathways to El Norte: origins, destinations, and characteristics of Mexican migrants to the United States

The geography Mexican migration to the U.S. has experienced deep transformations in both its origin composition and the destinations chosen by migrants. To date, however, we know little about how shifting migrant origins and destinations may be linked to each another geographically and, ultimately, structurally as relatively similar brands of economic restructuring have been posited to drive the shifts in origins and destinations. In this paper, we describe how old and new migrant networks have combined to fuel the well-documented geographic expansion of Mexican migration. We use data from the 2006 Mexican National Survey of Population Dynamics, a nationally representative survey that for the first time collected information on U.S. state of destination for all household members who had been to the U.S. during the 5 years prior to the survey. We find that the growth in immigration to southern and eastern states is disproportionately fueled by undocumented migration from non-traditional origin regions located in Central and Southeastern Mexico and from rural areas in particular. We argue that economic restructuring in the U.S. and Mexico had profound consequences not only for the magnitude but also for the geography of Mexican migration, opening up new region-to-region flows.     

Recession and Migration: A New Era for Labor Migration?

The current recession, the worst in a half century, is likely to affect international migration differently than past recessions. In 1973–1974 and 1981–1982, rising oil prices led to recessions in oil‐importing countries and economic booms in oil‐exporting countries, enabling some migrants to shift from bust to boom areas, as from Europe to the Middle East. The 1997–1998 Asian financial crisis did not spread globally, and was followed by a relatively quick resumption of economic and job growth that attracted migrant workers. The 2008–2009 recession is most severe in countries that had the most severe debt excesses, including the U.S., Spain, and Eastern Europe, and in countries most dependent on trade, including many Asian countries. New deployments of migrants are likely to slow, but what is not yet clear is how many migrants who lose jobs will remain abroad.     

When Will the Russians Come? On Post‐Soviet Immigration and Integration in Sweden

The focus of this paper is one of the paradoxes of international migration: the unexpectedly low level of migration between neighbouring countries with large macro‐economic differentials; in this case migration from the former Soviet republics to Sweden. In line with Faist (2000) , one assumption in the study is that the dynamics of international migration are strongly influenced by the emergence of a transnational social space. Based on a database (ASTRID) containing individual information about all residents in Sweden for the period 1986–2003, the study includes an analysis of migration in relation to the transnational social space ‐‐ its bridging and adaptive functions ‐‐ including labour market integration, family situation, intermarriage, population circulation and the spatial clustering of immigrants. The study reveals an over‐representation of female immigrants and a high frequency of intermarriage among women migrants. Moreover, a changing migrant composition over the past decades was found, including a growing number of students, whereas the empirical analyses indicate a rather weak labour market position among immigrants from former Soviet republics. However, the position of recently arrived migrants has been enhanced over time, and migrants who stay for longer periods attain a stronger position on the labour market. The analyses also show an increasing number of highly educated persons among immigrants from the former Soviet republics. Furthermore, migrants from the former Soviet republics who move to Sweden tend to remain rather than return. In addition, the empirical analysis shows only minor tendencies of spatial clustering among the migrants. In sum, the study indicates that the lack of a more developed transnational social space may explain the rather low level of migration but also that the changing mobility patterns could represent an initial phase of a denser transnational social space that may trigger higher migration rates between the former Soviet republics and Sweden in the near future.     

Human Rights,Income and International Migration

This study contributes to the literature of migration studies by addressing the question: why does international migration persist despite welfare improvements in migrant‐sending countries? We propose that the human rights condition of the origin countries is an important determinant of global migration. Although the human rights issue is not new to researchers in migration studies, the concern is primarily about the rights of migrants, refugees, asylum seekers or migrant workers in a host country. We undertake a bilateral panel data analysis to examine the pattern of global bilateral migration between 1995 and 2010. We find that international migration is positively associated with human rights conditions and income. Similar results are also obtained when we control for multilateral resistance and possible sample selection biases in a panel context. Our study implies that efforts to promote human rights may also be assessed in relation to their contribution to migration flows.