Opportunities, information networks and international migration streams

Theoretically, the basis for the continuance of international migration streams lies in the free flow of information between origin and destination. The people best informed about possible opportunities at the destination are most likely to emigrate.This idea is expressed as a simple linear equation and tested in predicting the size of migration streams from eight regions in Japan to each of four major Hawaiian Islands. A destination tends to attract new immigrants from an origin in direct proportion to the previously established amount of migration from that origin to that destination. In general, previous migration may have considerable relevance to continuation of streams in the future.