Between a rock and a hard place: Multisystem resilience and Honduran youth migration intentions

More is known about how ‘push factors’ motivate emigration and how immigrants adapt to their new environment than about psychological factors associated with migration intentions for those experiencing adversity in their country of origin. This paper explores the association between multisystem resilience and migration intentions among youth in Honduras. In this context of high economic need and contextual violence, higher levels of resilience are associated with higher levels of migration intentions among those who have a job and thus the ability to navigate or negotiate access to resources – economic, social and psychological – that make it possible to consider migration. Among those who have not been victims of violence and consequently may not have that motivation to migrate, higher levels of resilience are associated with lower migration intentions.     

An overview of present and future emigration dynamics in South Asia

The author presents preliminary findings on selected aspects of the dynamics which govern emigration from and within the South Asian region comprised of Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The paper attempts to identify some of the major reasons for observed migration flows and how the future may be envisaged especially in view of government programs, policies, and priorities. Contract labor migration is given special attention since it has become the predominant type of migration in the region. Sections consider a possible conceptual framework; measuring emigration pressure or potential; data and data problems; the volume of emigration since 1970; South Asian migrant workers; macro-level determinants of emigration; community, family, and individual factors; and sending country policies. The consequences of emigration are discussed in terms of the impacts upon the labor force and non-economic consequences. Observations for the future conclude the paper. Analysis of the dynamics of emigration from South Asia indicate an urgent need to improve data on various forms of emigration, that relevant officials in countries of origin have a longstanding concern about the exploitation of workers in sending as well as receiving countries, and the need to better understand the linkages between various factors relevant to the emigration process. An understanding of such linkages would allow for more realistic policies and planning for future emigration.     

Eager to Leave? Intentions to Migrate Abroad among Young People in Kyrgyzstan1

This study examines young people's intentions to migrate abroad in Kyrgyzstan, focusing in particular on differences between Asian and European‐origin ethnic groups. The multivariate analyses of recent survey data show that even after controlling for socioeconomic characteristics and social embeddedness Europeans are significantly more inclined to migrate than Asians. Whereas no gender differences in migration intentions among either group are detected, marriage, childbearing, and social capital exhibit distinct ethnic‐specific effects. Although economic considerations are prevailing stimuli for migration in both groups, the results point to the formation of two dominant ethnic‐specific migration preference types – for temporary migration among Asians and permanent migration among Europeans.     

Individual versus Household Migration Decision Rules: Gender and Marital Status Differences in Intentions to Migrate in South Africa

This research tests the thesis that the neoclassical microeconomic and the new household economic theoretical assumptions on migration decision‐making rules are segmented by gender, marital status, and time frame of intention to migrate. Comparative tests of both theories within the same study design are relatively rare. Utilizing data from the Causes of Migration in South Africa national migration survey, we analyse how individually held “own‐future” versus alternative “household well‐being” migration decision rules effect the intentions to migrate of male and female adults in South Africa. Results from the gender and marital status specific logistic regressions models show consistent support for the different gender‐marital status decision rule thesis. Specifically, the “maximizing one’s own future” neoclassical microeconomic theory proposition is more applicable for never married men and women, the “maximizing household income” proposition for married men with short‐term migration intentions, and the “reduce household risk” proposition for longer time horizon migration intentions of married men and women. Results provide new evidence on the way household strategies and individual goals jointly affect intentions to move or stay.     

A Multi Sited Approach to Analysis of Destination Immigration Data: An Asian Example

There has been a bias in standard international migration data collection and research toward immigration and destinations while emigration origins have been neglected. This has hampered our ability to provide a substantial empirical base for migration and development policy decision making in origin areas. While improvement of migration data collection in origin countries remains an important priority, this paper argues that much can be learned about emigration from low income countries from immigration data in high income destinations. Migration stock and flow data from Australia are used to provide information on the scale and nature of movement between Asia and Australia. It establishes that there are important but different flows in both directions which belie traditional conceptualisations of south‐north migration and this has significant implications for the effects of migration on economic development.     

Multi‐sited accumulation of capital: Cape Verdean returnees and small‐scale business

In recent years, policymakers have portrayed return migration as positive for development. In both migrant sending and migrant receiving countries, policymakers expect the transfer of economic, cultural and social capital by returnees to stimulate economic growth. Inherent in these assumptions is the idea of a unidirectional flow of capital from northern countries of immigration to the countries of return. The objective of this article is to contest this idea of a one‐way transfer of capital through a case study of Cape Verdean returnee business owners. To what extent have they accumulated their various forms of capital before emigration, during their sojourn abroad or after return? In this article, I examine the returnees' multi‐sited accumulation of capital and how it corresponds to the resources they need to run a sustainable business. In addition, I analyse how they adapt capital accumulated abroad to the conditions in Cape Verde.     

Psychosocial Factors of Migration: Adaptation and Application of the Health Belief Model

Psychosocial factors influencing behaviour play a central role in health research but seem under‐explored in migration research. This is unfortunate because these factors, which include knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, intentions and personality traits, provide essential and potentially effective handles for linking migration and migrant‐integration policies. We demonstrate that the health belief model (HBM) conceptualization of behavioural intentions contributes constructs that can further our understanding of migration intentions, thereby broadening the foundations for migration policies. We adapt the HBM to migration behaviour and then test it empirically by using survey data on international migration from West Africa and the Mediterranean region to the European Union. The results confirm that indicators of “perceived threat to living conditions”, “perceived benefits” and “perceived barriers to migration”, “cues to action” and “self‐efficacy” contribute considerably to the explanation of migration intentions. We conclude that psychosocial factors deserve greater prominence in migration theories and empirical research, and we recommend that migration surveys consider this framework to identify relevant indicators of psychosocial factors of international migration and develop appropriate survey questions to measure them.     

Swept Out: Measuring Rurality and Migration Intentions on the Upper Great Plains

Rural America has long been conceptualized as a place of out‐migration, a process that is the subject of many popular sociological works and remains a dominating narrative that describes rural life in the United States today. Population trends demonstrate this migration pattern for nearly the past century; however, emerging data paint a complex picture of migration behavior and intentions in rural areas. In this article, we utilize several measures of rurality to analyze the results of a 2012 mail survey (n = 2487) that describe the migration intentions of both rural and urban South Dakotans. Our findings show that urban residents are more likely to have intentions to migrate than rural residents, and that drivers of migration intentions appear similar in both urban and rural contexts. The survey also sheds light on the influence of community attachment, community satisfaction, quality of life, and other community strengths and weaknesses that rural and urban residents perceive in their communities. Supporting recent research on rural migration intentions, these results do not suggest high rates of out‐migration in rural areas. We discuss rural America's recent identity as a place of out‐migration, share our survey results, and discuss implications for future rural migration research.     

Emigration dynamics of eastern African countries

This examination of emigration dynamics focuses on 13 countries extending from Eritrea to Zimbabwe and Mozambique on the eastern African mainland and on 5 Indian Ocean island nations. The first part of the study looks at the temporal, spatial, and structural perspectives of emigration dynamics. Part 2 considers international migration in the region according to Appleyard's typology (permanent settlers, labor migration, refugees, and illegal migrants) with the additional category of return migration. Measurement issues in emigration dynamics are discussed in part 3, and the demographic/economic setting is the topic of part 4. The demographic factors emphasized include spatial distribution, population density, population structure, population dynamics, demographic transition, and the relationship between internal and international migration. Other major topics of this section of the study are the economic base, the human resource base, population and natural resources, the sociocultural context (emigration, chain migration, return migration, and migration linkages and networks), political factors (including human rights, minority rights and security, regional integration and economic cooperation, and the impact of structural adjustment programs), and a prediction of future emigration dynamics. It is concluded that refugee flows remain a major factor in eastern African countries but the development of human resources in the northern portion of the region indicates development of potential labor migration from this area. Data constraints have limited measurement of emigration in this region and may contribute to the seeming indifference of most eastern African countries to emigration policies. Emigration in this region has been triggered by deteriorating economic and political conditions and is expected to increase.     

What Explains the Increasing Trend in African Emigration to the U.S.?

In this study, data from the U.S. State Department on visas issued abroad and information from other sources are used to examine trends in African emigration to the U.S. The results suggest that, on average, moderate increases in African Gross Domestic Product between 1992 and 2007 had a buffering effect on emigration trends. Yet, emigration to the U.S. increased much faster from the poorest than wealthiest countries in Africa. Contrary to expectations, larger emigration increases were found in Africa’s non‐English than English‐speaking countries. Despite the increasing overall trend, however, critical differences were observed in the impacts of specific types of flows. For example, overall trends were driven by increases in Diversity Visa migration, refugee movements, and the migration of immediate relatives. However, significant declines were observed in employment‐related emigration from Africa to the U.S. The results further suggest that impact of trends in African fertility, urbanization, and phone use are circumscribed to specific contexts and types of migration flows. The findings, therefore, provide an empirical basis for concluding that the dynamics of African migration to the U.S. are becoming increasingly more complex.     

Managing Migration: The Role of Economic Instruments

This paper reviews economic policies and instruments available to the developed countries to reduce unwanted migration from developing countries, not all of which is irregular migration. Countries generally welcome legal immigrants and visitors, try to make it unnecessary for people to become refugees and asylum seekers, and try to discourage, detect, and remove irregular foreigners. There are three major themes: 1. There are as many reasons for migration as there are migrants, and the distinction between migrants motivated by economic and non–economic considerations is often blurred. Perhaps the best analogy is to a river – what begins as one channel that can be managed with a dam can become a series of rivulets forming a delta, making migration far more difficult to manage. 2. The keys to reducing unwanted migration lie mostly in emigration countries, but trade and investment fostered by immigration countries can accelerate economic and job growth in both emigration and immigration countries, and make trading in goods a substitute for economically motivated migration. Trade and economic integration had the effect of slowing emigration from Europe to the Americas, between southern Europe and northern Europe, and in Asian Tiger countries such as South Korea and Malaysia. However, the process of moving toward freer trade and economic integration can also increase migration in the short term, producing a migration hump, and requiring cooperation between emigration and immigration destinations so that the threat of more migration does not slow economic integration and growth. 3. Aid, intervention, and remittances can help reduce unwanted migration, but experience shows that there are no assurances that such aid, intervention, and remittances would, in fact, lead migrants to stay at home. The better use of remittances to promote development, which at US$65 billion in 1999 exceeded the US$56 billion in official development assistance (ODA), is a promising area for cooperation between migrants and their areas of origin, as well as emigration and immigration countries. There are two ways that differences between countries can be narrowed: migration alone in a world without free trade, or migration and trade in an open economy. Migration will eventually diminish in both cases, but there is an important difference between reducing migration pressures in a closed or open world economy. In a closed economy, economic differences can narrow as wages fall in the immigration country, a sure recipe for an anti–immigrant backlash. By contrast, in an open economy, economic differences can be narrowed as wages rise faster in the emigration country. Areas for additional research and exploration of policy options include: (1) how to phase in freer trade, investment, and economic integration to minimize unwanted migration; (2) strategies to increase the job–creating impacts of remittances, perhaps by using aid to match remittances that are invested in job–creating ways.     

Change and stability of migration intentions. Evidence from Italy

Due to a lack of relevant data, very few empirical studies have examined the changes in and stability of secondary migration intentions. We aim to fill this gap by analysing return migration intentions among international migrants in Italy. Data are drawn from the cross-sectional SCIF survey conducted by ISTAT in 2011–2012. Our findings reveal that migration intentions at the beginning of the migratory experience tend to differ from those measured at more advanced migration stages (i.e. at the time of the survey). In particular, intentions to return seem less stable than intentions to stay. When confirming intentions to return or remain, critical factors include financial stability, family situation and ties with the country of origin and destination. Additionally, having an Italian partner, a partner living in Italy, and a positive self-assessed family financial condition are positively associated with transitioning from a temporary plan to a permanent settlement intention.     

Migration Plans and Received Remittances: Evidence from Fiji and Tonga1

This paper investigates the relationship between remittances and migration intentions in the source country using data from households in the Pacific island countries of Tonga and Fiji. Unlike previous research it accounts for potential endogeneity in the relationship between remittances and intentions and also includes households that receive remittances but do not have current migrants. We find a positive impact of remittances on intentions. The impact of remittances on intentions is stronger in a country with a longer history of migration and stronger in households with current migrants than those without migrants. These results provide new evidence on the role of remittances in the development of migration chains.     

New Patterns of Internal Migration in Emigrant‐Sending Communities: the Case of China

Despite the large number of migrants at both international and internal scales in developing countries, literature on building the links between the two migration processes is still lacking. Using survey data from China's Fujian Province, we elaborate a novel link between international and internal migration processes by examining the response of internal migration to international migration in the migrant origins. Our findings suggest that emigration of one individual initially deterred the internal migration of other family members. Yet, over time individuals from emigrant‐related households had an increasing propensity to migrate internally. During the internal migration process, emigrants’ family members received greater financial returns and had reached farther destinations than other internal migrants. Those emigrant‐related internal migrants with enhanced economic profiles would benefit their domestic destinations in a variety of ways. These benefits support a more optimistic view on the impact of international migration on the development of migrant‐sending countries.     

Emigration dynamics: the Indian context

This report on emigration dynamics in India opens by providing background on short- and long-distance migration to and from India in response to such events as the formation of Pakistan as well as to the policies of the British Empire and Commonwealth. Section 2 discusses India's demographic and sociocultural setting in terms of population growth, urbanization, patterns of internal migration, growth of the labor force, economic growth, poverty alleviation, health, and education. The third section describes the lack of data on international migration. Some data are available on emigrants, but the only information on return migration is that gleaned from surveys in Kerala. Section 4 considers emigration to industrialized countries and notes that it is almost exclusively permanent and largely composed of individuals with professional, technical, or managerial skills. The resulting brain drain is described as is the incidence of illegal migration. India does not create conditions from which citizens must seek asylum, rather the country has absorbed flows of refugees from Pakistan, Tibet, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka. Available data on the characteristics of emigrants and return migrants are reviewed in the next two sections, and section 7 looks at the data on financial flows gathered from macro-level estimates of remittances. Section 8 is devoted to the community, family, and individual factors which influence emigration including the networks that facilitate migration and means of meeting migration costs. The ninth section summarizes the political setting with an emphasis on the adverse reaction of Nepal to population movement from India. The final section of the report projects future population movements. It is noted that if there were no restrictions on migration, millions of Indians would emigrate to the Americas, Africa, and Australia. Whereas poverty, unemployment, and population growth will likely erode living conditions in India, the government has no policy to encourage emigration. Labor migration to the Gulf countries will likely continue.     

Emigration dynamics in the Arab region. IOM / UNFPA workshop, 7-8 October 1996, Geneva,Switzerland

This paper describes the four research monographs on emigration that were presented at the December 1995 Regional Workshop in the Arab Region. The workshop was an exchange of views and discussion of policy implications of emigration. Monographs were presented by Dr. Mayar Farrag on emigration in Egypt, Professor Nadji Safir on migration in the Maghreb, Dr. Setenay Shami on emigration dynamics in Jordan, and Dr. Lynn Evans on behalf of Dr. Ivy Papps on migration in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Dr. Farrag identified three periods of migration. During the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, migrants were officially encouraged by Egypt to fill education positions. During the 1970s, many migrants left for the oil-producing countries on a temporary basis. Since the mid-1980s, the influences on Egyptian migration have been the economic recession and oil prices in the Gulf states, the completion of infrastructure projects in most Gulf states, and the replacement of foreign labor with nationals. Dr. Farrag recommended improving the migrants' skills in English and technology in order to maintain a dominant flow of temporary migrants to the Gulf region. Professor Safir reported that persons from the Maghreb region (Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco) migrated to France before independence and subsequently to West Germany and the Benelux countries. Algeria had the highest migration potential, and Morocco had the highest migration. Morocco had established networks in destination countries, high population growth rates, and high unemployment. Maghreb countries are receiving migrants from the south. Professor Safir recommended regional integration. Dr. Shami separated step migration from stepwise migration, which complicates push-pull theories. Dr. Papps argued that use of foreign labor may not be the best option for development, and that sending countries should be more aware of skill needs in GCC countries.     

The Effect of Regional Inequalities on Migration: A Comparative Analysis of Israel and Japan

This article posits three main questions: – Is there a general “mechanism” through which disparities in regional development affect patterns of cross-district migration? – Which aspects of regional inequalities (climate, employment, housingavailability, etc.) have the most profound effect on rates and directionof inter-area migration? – Which planning policies and strategies are conducive to increasing the migration attractiveness of peripheral development regions? In an attempt to answer these questions, the 1985-1995 statistical data fortwo relatively small and densely populated countries – Israel and Japan – are used. A general model of the factors affecting cross-district migration is suggested, and analysis-of-variance is used to explain the factors influencing rate of cross-area migration in the two countries. Although these countries differ substantially in respect to population sizeand local development, they appear to exhibit considerable similarities ingeneral patterns of cross-district migration. Since the late 1980s, the attractiveness of core regions in both countries has tended to decline, while that of peripheral areas appeared to grow. It is argued that this resemblance of migration patterns is related to a similarbalance of employment and housing availability in different geographicareas.     

Improving comparability of international migration statistics: contributions by the Conference of European Statisticians from 1971 to date

This article summarizes the 3 main types of interrelated activities which the Conference of European Statisticians has worked on to improve the measurement and international comparability of international migration flows. The work has encompassed collaborating with the UN Statistical Commission on the preparation and implementation of the revised international recommendations on statistics of international migration, organizing a regular exchange of data on immigration and emigration flows among the UN Economic Commission for Europe countries and selected countries in other regions, and conducting bilateral studies on international migration within the framework of the Conference's program of work in this field of statistics. The bulk of the work which has been carried out to date by the conference has been conducted rather anonymously and even unobtrusively by the staff of national statistical offices in Economic Commission for Europe countries; they have achieved a modest but important amount of progress during the past 15 years. There is reason to expect that further progress will be made over the next decade, particularly if national statistical offices in the region continue to undertake bilateral studies and endeavor to improve their migration statistics. However, more substantial progress could be achieved if additional countries and organizations established projects aimed at achieving these ends (author's modified).     

Migration Movements from and into Poland in the Light of East‐West European Migration

This article investigates migratory movements from and into Poland before and after the collapse of communism. The character and scale of these movements are of considerable significance, not only for politicians and societies in the CEE region, but also for European integration. The Polish eastern border is likely to remain one of the few places in Europe where it will be possible to control mobility on the East‐West axis. One cannot discuss East‐West mobility without discussing the emigration of Poles. Because recent immigration into Poland from the East should also be assessed from the perspective of both Poland and the West, the article examines emigration trends from Poland and immigration into Poland as well as the demographic characteristics of migrants. Only official statistical data are considered. Migration pressure from the East induced by the collapse of the system, combined with the restricted migration policy of Western Europe towards former USSR countries, were conducive to the formation of the Central European buffer zone. Poland is probably the best example of a buffer zone country. From the Western perspective it is also the most important country because the future of East‐West migration depends on the extension of the visa regime by Poland. Irrespective of the introduction of new hurdles, there will be other ways of channelling the movement from the East via Poland to the West. Globalization of migration will inevitably increase flows from the East. It is argued that the key to future European migration lies also in the West, more specifically in the employment needs of western labour markets.     

A comparative study on Italian new communities abroad: the cases of Tunisia and South Africa1

This paper presents two case studies about Italian new communities abroad: one Tunisian and one South African. These case studies were conducted – in a larger international research project on 14 countries – with different types of interview: focus interviews, in-depth interviews, focus groups, etc. The mixed interview modes brought to light how – with a different research strategy (methodological triangulation): quantitative and qualitative data – our complex social experience can be inquired into, in particular migration processes. The authors decided to utilise semi-standardised and non-standardised techniques. This paper discusses how the mixed research logic – utilised in both of these cases – is very productive in terms of knowledge. It seems that focus group interviewing techniques (and others) have been used progressively more and more over the past years as both a self-contained method for conducting qualitative research and in combination with other research methods. In the authors’ opinion, mixed-methods research (or multiple research strategies) represents a smaller corpus of literature that is getting increased attention. The essays in our paper are grouped along four themes: (a) economic development and globalisation; (b) perceptions and discourses; (c) the new migration phenomenon; and (d) fragmentation of identity. The authors believe that rebuilding a morceau de vie of Italian emigration helps to better analyse the role of the communities of immigrants in the construction of national processes. As a result of this, their survey introduces reflections on theoretical—methodological logic and concurs with placing such aspects in a global and social structural dimension. However, the universal and social structural dimension can be extended to the specific case. Its contribution in the first part investigates a variety of linkages of migration with broader processes of social–economic development and social globalisation. That global patterns of migration and the processes of globalisation are linked in various ways has long been recognised. The second part of the paper stresses the meaning of perceptions and discourses linked with the migration phenomenon and underlines the importance of an accurate methodological approach in order to provide new sociological points of view and appropriate research strategies.