Theoretical Intersection Between Migration and Development: A Brief Analysis

Until the emergence of the New Economics of Labor Migration (NELM) in the 1980s, migration scholars were largely divided into two main theoretical camps, viz. the neoclassical and historical-structural approaches to migration. Against this background, the NELM presented itself as a theoretical ‘third way’ between the two latter approaches, and purported to reconcile agency and structure in a way previously unachieved by either of them. While those pretensions gained a fair amount of acceptance and popularity, this paper argues that they are fundamentally misleading, and that the NELM is little more than a slightly more sophisticated avatar of the neoclassical approach to migration, whose fundamental weaknesses it has not, and cannot, shed. This paper further argues that, in so doing, the NELM effectively constitutes migration theory's own instance of economics imperialism, i.e. the attempt to advance the fundamental tenets of neoclassical economics (methodological individualism and the assumption of optimizing rationality) within the context of the study and interpretation of various social phenomena. In order to put forth these arguments, this paper provides a summary presentation of the standard neoclassical theory of migration, the historical-structural heterodoxy and the NELM; highlights why it is that the NELM should be regarded as a ‘reworked’ version of the neoclassical theoretical framework and discusses its inception in the context of the ‘information-theoretic revolution’ in economics; and argues for a new and improved ‘historical-structural synthesis’ as a more satisfactory alternative to both the NELM and the standard neoclassical theory.

This article analyzes the relationship between migration and agricultural production in Burkina Faso. It lies on the model of the New Economics of Labor Migration, and uses the 2003 to 2004 cropping season data collected in the Sudanese area. The results show that the majority of rural households in Burkina Faso are involved in migration, and migration is an important part of their income. The results obtained from the analysis come to validate partially the assumptions of the New Economics of Labor Migration; which highlight some weaknesses in the way markets function in the rural area notably the labor market. Key words: Migration, remittances, agricultural production, new economics of labor migration, Burkina Faso

The urbanization in China is “incomplete” and the migration of non-hukou migrants is circular, wherein rural migrants often keep their rural land in the home village as a social safety net. The informal housing market is one of the main housing providers for migrant workers. Existing studies see informal housing as the migrants’ passive choice under the discriminatory hukou system, while underplaying the migrants’ familial multi-site tenure strategies between village homes and city places. As suggested by New Economics of Labor Migration (NELM), attachment to a place of origin (such as keeping hometown lands), while choosing informal housing at the destination, is a familial utility maximization strategy that can control risks when migrating between locations. Informal housing areas, therefore, become a trans-local rural-urban gradient and semi-urban landscape. We use the 2017 Migrant Dynamics Monitoring Survey data and the binary logistic regression to examine (a) whether hometown landowning is a significant predictor of the migrants’ choosing of a temporary stay in informal settlements in urban destinations, and (b) which kind of hometown land arrangement (farmland or homestead holding or both of them) is the strongest indicator of the higher probability of staying in informal settlements in urban destinations? The data analysis reveals that homestead in hometown is a more prominent pulling factor than farmland to “glue” rural migrants together within an integrated rural land “insurance regime” between the migrant-sending and -receiving places. The land-use and informal housing governance (including urban village demolition) ignore the trans-local nature of the migratory networks and semi-urbanizing dynamics. The traditional analysis of the rural-urban gradient with many landscapes should consider the functional and tenurial linkage between the locations at different points along with the complex migration activities.

This article lays out three overarching dimensions of current theoretical models of migration flows: a “spatial” dimension, which describes pushes and pulls in origin and destination countries; a “temporal” dimension, which explains why migration streams begin and either grow or dissipate; and a “volitional” dimension, which explains at the individual level how migrants respond to these forces and to the changing context in which migration occurs. The spatial dimension includes the four primary models of migration, based on neoclassical economics, world systems theory, the new economics of labor migration, and social capital theory. By placing these demographic-economic approaches into a synthetic, three-dimensional framework, the article addresses the discrete causes of migration while bridging the artificial (often disciplinary) divide among competing explanations.

Migration, Theory of

Research devoted to understanding the role of environmental change on migration within, across, and out of Latin America paints a clearer picture of how vulnerability can both drive and hinder different kinds of mobility. However, the precise socioecological mechanisms by which environmental strain drives higher migration in some circumstances and does the opposite in others is less known. I argue that these mechanisms could be better tested if they were more explicitly conceptualized via a more systematic theoretical elaboration of the way in which social, economic, political, and policy conditions mediate environmental migration. With few exceptions, environmental mechanisms are mostly absent in most major migration theories or otherwise only weakly or implicitly accounted for. I thus propose to incorporate environmental-societal mechanisms more explicitly within the broader theoretical frameworks used in both Migration Studies and Population Studies that seek to explain the causes of many types of migrations. I first briefly summarize and discuss findings from the empirical literature in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as outline some other important environmental migration mechanisms by describing the implications of two major frameworks in Environmental Studies: Sustainable Livelihoods and Adaptation and Vulnerability. Next, I offer refinements aimed at better incorporating socio-environmental forces within five major migration theories: Neoclassical Economics, New Economics of Labor Migration, Historical-Structural Theory, World-Systems Theory, and the Cumulative Causation of Migration. I wrap up by suggesting some important mechanisms to be tested in future empirical work.

This paper aims to examine New Economics of Labor Migration (NELM) in the northwestern Guangxi, China and investigate the relationships among rural-urban migration, rural household income and local geographical contexts. Stratified sampling and typical case study were adopted and 236 questionnaires were collected from four villages, Daxin, Lixin, Longhe and Yongchang. We analyzed the rural-urban migration rate, household income and local geographical factors, focusing on the ratio of remittance income to total household income. Data descriptions and statistical methods, such as Pearson Chi-square test, Contingency coefficient, Eta, Pearson correlation coefficient, t-test, multiple comparisons (LSD test, Tamhane T2, Dunnett T3 and Dunnet C test) were used. The results are as follows. Rural households’ income is diversified in survey villages so the motivation of rural-urban migration in the study area can be partly explained by NELM. The migration rate of households (the percentage of households with migrants in survey households) in survey villages varies from 50% to 86%, while the proportion of remittance income to household income is in the range of 30% to 80%. In the village of Yongchang, with the least average arable land area per household, the remittance income plays a vital role in household income (80%). And the statistical findings show that the proportion is significantly and negatively correlated with arable land area per household. The conclusion is that direct effect of migration, i.e., the contribution of remittance to household income, is negatively correlated with the contribution of resources to local income.

The New Economics of Labor Migration (NELM) hypothesizes that migration is a strategy to reduce risks and financial liquidity constraints of rural households. This paper tests this hypothesis for the case of Vietnam. The impacts of migration on agricultural production and diversification are estimated in fixed effects regression models based on a panel data set of about 2,000 households in Vietnam. The findings suggest that rural households who receive remittances from their migrants reduce the share of their income from rice, increase their land productivity and become more specialized in labor allocation. However, migration also decreases labor productivity and crop diversification of rural households. Overall, the NELM hypothesis is only supported in cases migrant households receive remittances.

Objectives. We study migrant remittances among households surveyed in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, testing expectations derived from the new economics of labor migration (NELM) and from the historic‐structural approach.Methods. We applied logistic regression analyses to survey data collected by the Mexican Migration Project and the Latin American Migration Project, focusing on the contrast between Mexico and the Dominican Republic.Results. In Mexico, remittances seem to be associated with the patriarchal traditional family, but in the Dominican Republic we verified the opposite. Receipt of remittances is positively associated with degree of development among Mexican households, but the association is negative in the Dominican Republic. In addition, Mexican remittances are negatively associated with the number of businesses in the local community.Conclusions. In Mexico, as predicted by NELM, the cohesive patriarchal family ensures the flow of remittances as part of a household strategy of risk diversification. Dominican remittances, however, seem to be mostly determined by lack of opportunities and household need.

As with all social processes, human migration is a dynamic process that requires regular theoretical reflection; this article offers such reflection as related to the role of the natural environment in contemporary migration research and theory. A growing body of evidence suggests that environmental contexts are increasingly shifting social and ecological realities in ways that are consequential to migration theory. We review some of this evidence, providing examples applicable to core migration theories, including neoclassical economic and migration systems perspectives, the "push-pull" framework, and the new economics of labor migration. We suggest that neglecting consideration of the natural environment may yield misspecified migration models that attribute migration too heavily to social and economic factors particularly in the context of contemporary climate change,. On the other hand, failure to consider migration theory in climate scenarios may lead to simplistic projections and understandings, as in the case of "climate refugees". We conclude that migration researchers have an obligation to accurately reflect the complexity of migration's drivers, including the environment, within migration scholarship especially in the context of global climate change.

The economic literature on migration has grown rapidly over the last decades. Although the literature covers a wide range of different topics which are all related to migration, it has three distinct characteristics. First, it focuses almost entirely on labor migration, and other types of migrants (e.g. refugees) are typically ignored. Second, it contains a well-known, but often unexpressed, division between internal migration (migration within countries) and international migration (King and Skeldon 2010). Third, it emphasizes on the determinants of migration rather than their consequences (Greenwood 1985). However, because the causes of migration and its consequences are closely related, the same theories can be used to explain both international and internal migration. There are numerous theories that explain migration. Because motives to migrate are com-plex, these different theories should be viewed as complementary rather than contradictory. In this chapter we explore six common theories, discuss their policy implications, and their empirical support. We end the chapter by reflecting on a commonly ignored issue in empirical surveys, i.e., we discuss the importance of accounting for different time horizons when evaluating causes and effects of migration empirically. This discussion highlights the importance of viewing migration theories as complementary rather than contradictory. Despite the existence of numerous labor migration theories, these can effectively be classifiedinto either of the two following categories: (1) theories of the initiating causes of migration and (2) theories of the self-perpetuating causes of migration (Massey et al. 1993). At least three theories can be placed in the first category; neoclassical theory, the new economics of labor migration theory and dual/segmented labor market theory. And, at least three theories can be placed in the second category; network theory, cumulative causation theory, and institutional theory. In neoclassical theory, individuals will migrate when the expected income is higher at thedestination than at their current residence. The New Economics of Labor Migration (NELM) theory, on the other hand, stresses the importance of the household as the decision maker rather than the individual, and hypothesizes that individuals are not indifferent to risk (i.e. they are risk-averse). Therefore, population movements can take place even if there are no perceived differences in the expected income between regions, which are not possible in neoclassicalmodels. Dual Labor Market Theory studies migration at a higher level of aggregation than the former theories, and emphasizes basic structural characteristics (e.g. the wage formation process) in the economy, which creates a demand for immigrant labor. The Dual Labor Market theory was mainly developed to explain some empirical observations, typically unexplained by other models. For example, the income distribution in many economies is not entirely explained by the fact that different individuals have different talents and levels of education (Cain 1976). The second category of theories involves explanations of the self-perpetuating mechanisms ofmigration. Simply put, these theories explain how current migration flows can cause future population movements. Network theory, for instance, belongs to this category as it acknowledges the fact that migrants provide friends and relatives back home with support and information about the destination area. Connections between migrants and relatives back home therefore induce more migration. Cumulative Causation theory explains several self-perpetuating forces of migration, for instancethe effects of migration on the income distribution and agricultural production in origin areas. Institutional theory focuses on the necessary institutions, which assist both legal and illegal (typically international) migration. One example relates to the fact that many countries restrict immigration, which generates a need for services that can assist the “underground migrants.” Therefore, former migration leads to more migration because of the formation of different underground activities such as smuggling of migrants and providing the migrants with false documents (visas, passports, etc.). In the remainder of the chapter we discuss, more extensively, each of the mentioned theoriesone by one. In the second section we discuss theories of the initiating causes of migration. In the third section, we discuss the self-perpetuating forces of migration. In the fourth section we elaborate on empirical issues and exemplify by drawing from our own work on migrant remittances.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to gain more insight into the relationship between off‐farm employment of rural households and water‐saving investments and irrigation water use in rural China.Design/methodology/approachData from a survey held among 317 households in Minle County, Zhangye City, Gansu Province, covering the year 2007, are used for a probit analysis explaining investments in land leveling and for an ordinary least squares regression explaining irrigation water use per mu.FindingsOff‐farm employment is not significantly related to investments in land leveling, but is negatively associated with water use per mu. In addition, the paper finds that the share of migrant students in a household is positively related to investments in land leveling. The results indicate the presence of major factor market imperfections in the research area, and confirm that the new economics of labor migration (NELM) approach is more relevant for analyzing off‐farm employment and agricultural production in China than neoclassical economic theory.Originality/valueThe paper expands the NELM approach towards the analysis of water‐saving investments and water use. In addition, it distinguishes migrant students as an important category that should be taken into account in analyzing farm household decisions making.

The new economics of labor migration (NELM) frequently emphasizes the importance of migration as a way for rural households to overcome credit constraints. If this hypothesis is correct, then the credit constraint is a motivation for migration (a relaxation of this constraint would encourage less migration). Conventionally, it is believed that migration is costly and has to be financed with borrowed capital, so the credit constraint is a deterrent of migration (a relaxation of this constraint would encourage more migration). In this paper, an agricultural household model is developed to study whether the credit constraint is a motivation for or a deterrent to migration. The model's result confirms the NELM's hypothesis: for households with high demand for agricultural investments and high net migration return, migration is used as a way to finance capital investments. Using data from four provinces in Vietnam, preliminary evidence is found supporting this hypothesis.

Increasing numbers of independent women labor migrants leave countries in the Global South every year to work overseas. However, our understanding of how exactly gender and migration intersect at the decision-making moment is still inadequate. The new economics of labor migration (NELM) argument that individual migration is a household-level decision has been criticized by feminist scholars for ignoring the gendered social norms and inequitable intra-household power distribution that can make it difficult for prospective independent female labor migrants to leave their homes to work overseas. To reconcile NELM with gender reality, I propose an explicitly gendered, “negotiated migration model” that separates the pre-migratory process into three parts: an individual-level aspiration, the household-/family-level negotiation, and only then, the migration decision. The intermediate negotiation phase is a dynamic, two-sided, discursive site where both the aspiring migrant and her relatives engage in gendering practices and gender performances to bolster their respective positions. Interviews with 139 Filipino migrant domestic workers reveal that successful female migrants win their families' support by coopting gendered scripts prevalent in Philippine society. Rather than attempting to “undo” gender, these women reframe their migration aspirations as a duty, rather than a right, to migrate, and a logical extension of their traditional, supporting roles as daughters, wives, sisters, and/or mothers. Thus, even though these women migrants break gender barriers when it comes to their independent labor migration, they do so by “doing,” rather than “undoing,” gender.

PurposeA major policy issue facing leaders in the developing world is whether international migration, through remittances, contributes to the development process in migrant-sending communities or impedes the efficient allocation of labor and human capital at the origin countries. This study examines the impact of remittance inflows on out-farm migration of farm labor toward the nonfarm sector. Specifically, this study shows how international migrant remittances may alter the predictions of out-farm migration models by Harris–Todaro.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use unbalanced panel time-series data on 77 developing countries between 1991 and 2010 within a dynamic panel time-series framework to estimate the impact of remittances on the out-farm migration rate.FindingsThe authors find two competing effects of remittances on out-farm migration of labor in developing countries. First, remittances decelerate the out-farm migration rates by supplementing farm income and consumption expenditures. Second, remittances provide a source of investment in nonfarm activities that increase the rate of migration out of agriculture over time. Combining these effects, on average, our elasticity estimates indicate that a 10% increase in remittances reduces the migration out of agriculture, on average, by 0.5% in developing countries over time.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors findings align with the “developmentalist” or “optimistic” views of international migration. International migration, through remittances, help make the inevitable transition out of the farm sector smoother for developing countries.Originality/valueTo the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to extend the empirical literature on macro-level determinants of out-farm migration within the Harris–Todaro framework to explicitly account for the impacts of remittances inflows into developing countries that the new economics of labor migration (NELM) theory hypothesizes.