Connecting the dots: Using social network analysis to disentangle the factors driving international migration

Abstract

AbstractMigration scholars and policymakers continue to question why international migration corridors develop. In the current project, I argue that there is value in applying a social network approach to disentangle the processes that drive international migration. Using data on migration between 173 countries from 2010 to 2015, I construct a migration network where nodes are countries and edges are flows weighted by the number of people making an international move. Then, I apply valued exponential random graph models to determine whether multiple factors govern the global movement of people. I find that the international migration network is defined by an overrepresentation of transitive triads and unreciprocated dyads, even when multiple economic, migrant network, macro‐level and environmental factors are also considered. Results suggest that after accounting for the volume of migration flows and various, theoretically‐informed drivers of international migration, the network continues to resemble a stratified ranking of destinations.