Transition Shocks and Emigration Profiles in Latin America

Abstract

Scholars have long recognized the impact transformative political events have had on migration patterns in individual countries, but few have extended these ideas to the current period of political transition taking place across Latin America. Through analysis of data from the Latin American Migration Project (LAMP) and the Mexican Migration Project (MMP) from across Peru, Nicaragua, and the Mexican states of Guerrero and Oaxaca, the authors offer cross-national and subnational evidence of the role political “shocks” play in determining the demographic and socioeconomic profiles of migrants from these areas over the past twenty years. The results suggest that even in times of democratic opening, citizens’ migration decisions are in part driven by political considerations.