Asian student migration to Australia

"This paper presents an overview of Asian student migration to Australia, together with an analysis of political and educational aspects of the overseas student programme. It focuses on some significant consequences of this flow for Australia. The characteristics of key student groups are contrasted to provide some perspective of the diversity of historical and cultural backgrounds, with the source countries of Malaysia, Indonesia and PRC [China] selected as case studies. Since the issue of PRC students in Australia has attracted considerable public attention and policy consideration, particular focus is placed on their experience." (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA)     

State and Regional Policy Implications of Elderly Migration

This paper uses the 1980 Census data to estimate the size of the economic transfers associated with the 1985 to 1990 interregional migration of older persons. Total economic transfers are estimated by multiplying interregional migration flows of older persons by the average income of older persons in each migration stream. Assuming an average life expectancy of 15 years for elderly migrants and an expenditure multiplier of 2, the total redistribution of income as a result of 1985 to 1990 elderly migration is estimated to be over $600 billion. The South Atlantic and Mountain regions are the recipients of the largest positive net transfers; the East North Central and West North Central regions have the largest negative net transfers.     

State and regional policy implications of elderly migration

This paper uses the 1980 Census data to estimate the size of the economic transfers associated with the 1985 to 1990 interregional migration of older persons. Total economic transfers are estimated by multiplying interregional migration flows of older persons by the average income of older persons in each migration stream. Assuming an average life expectancy of 15 years for elderly migrants and an expenditure multiplier of 2, the total redistribution of income as a result of 1985 to 1990 elderly migration is estimated to be over $600 billion. The South Atlantic and Mountain regions are the recipients of the largest positive net transfers; the East North Central and West North Central regions have the largest negative net transfers.     

Patterns of Intergenerational Transfers in Southeast Asia

This article explores motivations for intergenerational exchanges of time and money using data from Indonesia. The extent of exchange and underlying motivations differ across families but substantial evidence supports the theory that transfers within families serve as insurance for family members. The results also suggest that between some parents and children money is exchanged for time. Additionally, some evidence is consistent with the idea that parents pay for their children's education partly as a loan that is later repaid. The authors compare their results to those that they obtained previously for Malaysia using similar data and methods. The findings regarding motivations for transfers are remarkably similar across the two countries.     

NeoLiberalism and the Challenges of Managing Labour Migration in Urban Malaysia

Labour migration into Malaysia has increased rapidly in recent decades and this has affected Malaysia's government policy in managing migrants’ movement. Interestingly, Malaysia has attracted a high degree of unskilled labour, accompanied by unabated rise of undocumented migrant workers. Mitigating undocumented migration is the main aim of Malaysia's labour migration policy and therefore the focus of Malaysian government. This has impacted on how enforcement agencies work out strategies. These agencies are the forefront of Malaysia's labour migration policy but they faced a number of challenges, such as documentation, finance and manpower capability, and political intervention, which impede their ability to optimize their capabilities in enforcing the Malaysian government labour migration policy. Resolving these challenges and moving towards a long‐term labour migration policy will benefit the Malaysian state, its citizens and the labour migrants.     

Migration between the United States and Canada: a study of labour market adjustment

"... The main purpose of this study is to examine population flows between Canada and the United States [from mid-1947 to mid-1972] in order to investigate the degree to which labour market adjustment is aided by such movements. [The author considers] several functional forms of the migration relationship in an attempt to empirically determine how the decision to migrate is formed. [He also compares the] results with those obtained by Courchene...for Canadian interprovincial migration in an effort to compare the effects of international and internal migration on labour market adjustment." It is found that "migration between the United States and Canada over the post-war period is an economic variable. In fact, [a] simple model employing differences in income levels and unemployment rates has been able to explain nearly ninety-five per cent of the variation in the migration rate." The author also notes that "although migration between Canada and the United States does occur in such a way as to aid labour market adjustment, it is not as efficient as internal migration." (summary in FRE, SPA)     

Comparative migration issues

"This article reviews migration issues in Canada, the United States, and Mexico in the context of a general interpretation that NAFTA's [North American Free Trade Agreement] migration provisions are insufficient to deal with the larger continental migration problems."     

Interhousehold grants in peninsular Malaysia: Impact of grantors' characteristics on amount of grants given

Grants of money, goods, and services are one-way transfers between households. Tobit analysis reveals that race, household structure, household income, transportation resources (viz., vehicles owned), goods and service grants received, husband's education, and stock of small animals owned (viz., a common commodity gift in Malaysia) are characteristics of granting households that are influential in determining the amount of grants given. The incidence of granting is substantially lower among Indian than among Chinese or Malay households, although Indian households give the highest mean amount of grants. Multivariate analysis reveals that, other factors held constant, Malay households are the most generous and Indian households the least so in giving interhousehold grants. When giving of grants is conceptualized as a consumption expenditure, granting is observed to have a relationship to income similar to that of necessities rather than luxury goods.His areas of research interest are grants economics, labor economics, welfare economics, and consumer rights and protection. He received his Ph.D. in Consumer and Family Economics from the University of Missouri.His research interests include various aspects of social policy and family economic circumstances and functioning. He received his Ed.D. from the University of Missouri.     

Decoupling migration effects from income effects on reproduction in Central American migrant-sending households

Contemporary data for three Central American countries (Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Nicaragua) surveyed by the Latin American Migration Project were analyzed to determine if migration length and remittance transfers had an influence on fertility. The analysis was structured to separate societal influences on fertility attributable to migration from the income effects associated with remittance transfers. At the couple level, the odds that a birth would occur were negatively associated with an increase in U.S. remittance receipts and an increase in a wife’s migration duration. However, no correlation was found between length of male migration and couple fertility.     

Planned population redistribution: lessons from Indonesia and Malaysia

An analysis of the transmigration program in Indonesia and the Federal Land Development Authority scheme in Malaysia is presented. The analysis shows that the motivations of participants in such programs are primarily economic and are similar to the motives influencing rural-urban migration. The importance of developing infrastructure and providing promised services to settlers to ensure the success of such programs is stressed. The role of settlement projects in encouraging additional spontaneous migration is also considered.     

Urban squatting and migration in Peninsular Malaysia

"This article examines some of the links between the phenomena of urban migration and squatter settlements in the Third World city. This will be done by demonstrating that both are outcomes of fundamental social and political forces that have operated on these societies. Migration and squatting are placed in a context of the historical processes that led to the uneven development of Malaysia. The article offers some explanation for the origin of the inequalities observed in spatial structures--in this case urban housing--by focusing on one of the contributory factors, namely migration."     

The Malaysian state's response to migration

This paper aims to provide a profile of migration trends in Malaysia since 1970 and to analyze public policy on migration in the context of economic growth and the labor market. The discussion centers on the impact of the Asian financial crisis. There is long history of immigration to Malaysia. The development strategy of the 1970s and 1980s was to create more jobs and restructure employment to meet equity goals. Labor shortages on plantations and construction booms led to a more organized, sustained effort to import labor. Recession in the mid-1980s led to unemployment, but many Malaysians were unwilling to work on plantations, in construction, or in low paying jobs. Economic growth during 1987-96 was very high, and labor shortages spread to service and manufacturing sectors. Migration policy has shifted over the decades. Both the market and the government's promotion of export-based industrialization require access to low cost migrant labor. Public and official recognition of the large number of migrants was not made until 1995. The financial crisis in 1998 led to enforcement of a new migration policy on illegal migrants and greater outflow of migrants. The economic crisis has increased job and income inequities in the region; this encourages continued migration. It is argued that it would be best for Malaysia to maximize short-term gains while minimizing long-term economic, social, and political costs.     

Early return of Sri Lankan migrants in the Middle East

The author examines early return migration patterns of labor migrants from Sri Lanka in the Middle East. "Attention [is given] to the reasons why a considerable number of migrants return to their country of origin prematurely.... Differentials in the duration of stay in the host country, as well as some of the consequences of early return migration for the migrant and his family [are discussed].... The data used for this article are based primarily on a random survey held among 899 return migrants, 858 family members of current migrants and 409 non-migrants...[for] the period December 1985 to July 1986." (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA)     

Effects of Government Policy on Internal Migration in Peninsular Malaysia: A Comparison between Malays and Non‐Malays1

Do policies aimed at reducing ethnic inequality affect ethnic‐specific migration? This article examines the effects of the New Economic Policy on first migration experiences of individuals in Peninsular Malaysia. Using life‐history data from the Second Malaysian Family Life Survey, I analyze whether the policy affected migration of individuals and how the effect differs between the Malays and non‐Malays for men and women. I found that the policy had positive effect on migration of both men and women, regardless of ethnicity. There is weak evidence that the NEP was ethnic‐specific in affecting migration, while NEP was not sex‐specific in affecting migration.     

Emigration and development in Southern Africa,with special reference to Lesotho

"The introduction defines development and describes the scope of the paper. Section two briefly describes the historical evolution of [labor] migration in southern Africa, the ambiguities of data, and recent quantitative trends. Section three discusses alternative theoretical perspectives. Section four examines the case of Lesotho as an extreme example of a sending country and provides occasional allusions to other southern African sending countries. Section five concludes that the most important effect of [labor] migration on development in southern Africa has been to trade short run income benefits for long run development difficulties."     

Taikongs and Calos: the role of middlemen and brokers in Javanese international migration

"This article discusses international migration from Java in the past and present and the role brokers have played in stimulating this movement. It describes legal and clandestine labor migration to Singapore, Malaysia, and Saudi Arabia, the influence of employment brokers on the process, and the organization of the recruitment networks. The involvement of brokers is crucial but not always beneficial for the migrants. Migrants are dependent on the brokers and risk exploitation. In the case of movement to Saudi Arabia, there is a linkage with religious institutions and the Islamic pilgrimage."     

Changing patterns of migration in the Adriatic region

International migration in the Adriatic countries of Albania, Greece, Italy, San Marino, and Yugoslavia is briefly examined using data from official and other published sources. The main types of migratory movements identified by the author within the region are "1) economically motivated migration (legal and clandestine); 2) immigration of refugees for resettlement; 3) immigration with the scope of final resettlement in a third country (transit movements); [and] 4) return migration by former emigrants."     

Labor migration in Asia

"A recent conference sponsored by the United Nations Center for Regional Development (UNCRD) in Nagoya, Japan examined the growing importance of labor migration for four major Asian labor importers (Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore) and five major labor exporters (Bangladesh, Korea, Pakistan, Philippines, and Thailand).... The conference concluded that international labor migration would increase within Asia because the tight labor markets and rising wages which have stimulated Japanese investment in other Asian nations, for example, have not been sufficient to eliminate migration push and pull forces...."     

Values,social problems and balanced development in Malaysia

Balanced development can only be achieved if growth is accompanied by an improvement in the quality of life, which includes a reduction in social problems. This study investigates whether this is true for Malaysia and whether a person's values are related to his social behavior. It is found that the incidence of social problems increases with higher income levels and that involvement in social problems is negatively related to good values. Hence, in order to improve social well being, in particular to reduce the incidence of social problems, it is proposed that the focus be directed at inculcating good values.     

Haitian emigration in the early twentieth century

"Standard migration theories see receiving countries as the dynamic agent [pulling] migrants to them. These theories, while useful for explaining many cases, appear inadequate for the case of labor migration from Haiti to Cuba and the Dominican Republic in the early twentieth century. This article examines this history and offers an alternative theoretical framework for explaining this migration flow. It is argued that the prime cause of migration from Haiti is factors in the sending country."