International Migration Research Articles

Ain’t I a Migrant?: Global Blackness and the Future of Migration Studies

In the wake of recent interventions to better connect the subfields of international migration and race and ethnicity through a sociology of racialized immigration, we push this further by arguing for the necessity of a global Blackness perspective on global migration. Such a focus does not just reflect the role of race in the dynamics of migration, and vice versa, but more importantly shifts assumptions about this relationship. So, it is not enough to say that race matters in migration but rather that blackness and Black lives matter in how migration unfolds. Using global blackness as a starting point in our analyses of migration reveals a clearer and closer entanglement of race, racism, colonialism, and migration. We argue that global Blackness structures notions of who migrates and under what conditions, as well as our ideas regarding migrants and their descendants and use the examples of New York City, Paris, and France as paradigmatic sites for understanding this relationship.

Drought and aridity influence internal migration worldwide

Drought and aridity influence internal migration worldwide

Visa policy and international student migration: evidence from Canada

Abstract This article examines how visa policy affects international student migration. Using administrative data on community colleges in Canada, we evaluate a reform that introduced a new visa stream—the Student Partners Program (SPP)—with shorter processing times and higher approval rates for student visa applicants able to demonstrate that they have the financial resources and language skills to succeed academically. Using a triple difference estimator, we find that SPP increased student migration from treated countries by 34% relative to what would have occurred without the reform, and that this effect materialized only among students from origin countries suffering from low approval rates. Moreover, we show that higher enrollment was driven in roughly equal proportions by an increase in visa approval rates and the volume of visa applications, suggesting that the policy helped reduce statistical discrimination and increased the attractiveness of treated institutions. We also leverage the SPP reform to investigate potential crowding-out effects. While inflows of international students did not reduce the number of domestic students enrolled at Canadian community colleges, the reform helped foreign enrollment outpace domestic enrollment by crowding-in international students from countries that were not eligible to SPP.

Investigating the Role of Migration on Household Wellbeing: A Study in an Emerging Market

ABSTRACTThis study aims to investigate the impact of internal migration on household wellbeing, measured using a multidimensional wellbeing index (MWI). Utilizing the Alkire–Foster methodology, we conceptualize MWI to encompass the following five broad dimensions: education, health, income and employment, standard of living, and inclusion. The study is based on household‐level primary data collected from the Indian state of Jharkhand using a multistage stratified sampling method. Data were analyzed using probit regression with MWI as a dependent variable. Our findings suggest that (i) internal migration has a positive association with households' wellbeing and (ii) the inflow of remittances significantly contributes to increasing the total household income of migrant families, which positively impacts household wellbeing.

Infrastructures of Social Reproduction: Migrant Survival and Economic Development at the Thailand-Myanmar Border

International migration literature has shown that infrastructures consisting of people and institutions sustain migration and help migrants cope in new environments. However, analytic focus on these infrastructures is often limited to the migration process and its impact on migrants. This article extends the growing literature on migration infrastructure by analyzing its socially reproductive capacities in the context of economic development in Thailand. Drawing on ethnographic and interview data from the Tak border zone, I show how the social and humanitarian dimensions of migration infrastructure that grew from war displacement, labor migration, and migrant survival efforts became essential to economic development aims of the Thai state. Through this case, I illustrate a process of infrastructural co-optation by which the state harnesses grassroots and humanitarian actors’ capacities for childcare, education, and healthcare to advance such aims. Authorities spatially contain migrant workers with limited rights and social protections while loosely engaging with parts of the border's infrastructure, which keeps noncitizen workers alive and available for low-wage jobs. The findings show that aspects of migration infrastructure are co-optable, with impact beyond the migration process and for non-migrants.

THE SPATIAL LINKAGES BETWEEN INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION AND SECURITY: THE EMPIRICAL FINDINGS FROM TURKEY HOSTING MOST REFUGEE IN THE WORLD

The increasing international migration in the world, especially due to the conflict, have potential negative impacts in immigrant countries. An increase in crime rates caused by unemployed immigrants who cannot meet their food and housing needs is one of them. Accordingly, the study investigates the effects of international immigrants, whose numbers reached about 3,9 million in Turkey, on violent and financial crime rates. The Spatial Error Panel Model with Fixed Effects covering Turkey’s 26 NUTS-II regions and 2016-2019 period indicate that there are positive and statistically significant relationships between immigrants and these crime rates. However, the negative impacts of international migration on security are mainly observed in financial crimes rather than violent crimes. Furthermore, the most important determinants of these crimes are high food and housing costs. And also, there is a negative relationship between uneducated employment and financial crimes rather than violent crimes. On the other hand, the findings indicate that regions have spatial dependency positively in terms of violent crimes. It means that as average violent crimes increase in the neighbors of a region, the violent crimes of that region also increase.

The quest for a good old age: mobility, immobility and Puerto Rican aging in the United States

ABSTRACT Mobility regimes refer to the political economic processes by which people are bounded, emplaced, forced, and permitted to move and to migrate. The literature on aging in contexts of mobility regimes has primarily focused on international migration, even though the framework is multi-scalar. This article examines how older Puerto Rican adults navigate mobility regimes in the quest for a subjective good old age. Puerto Rico is a US territory, which means that Puerto Rico-US migration does not span international borders. Drawing on remote ethnographic research with older Puerto Rican adults, I argue that political-economic processes rooted in US colonialism simultaneously condition migration as a strategy for the pursuit of a good old age and contribute to inequitable circumstances that make a good old age hard to find. These inequitable processes manifest in three ways: (1) Unequal healthcare benefits contribute to mobility; (2) Unequal social welfare benefits contribute to immobility; and (3) The meanings and mobilities associated with unequal benefits shift over the life course. By focusing on how governments differentially regulate the internal migration of their own citizens, this article advances understanding of how mobilities and immobilities operate at multiple scales, with important implications for a good old age.

International migration in the context of financial and economic security: The role of public administration in the development of national economy, education, and human capital

The article outlines trends in today global migration and its consequences for economic growth and security. Both positive and negative sides of ongoing processes are analyzed, in particular the effect of remittances on the one side and money laundering and terrorism financing due to activities of criminal organizations involved in migrant smuggling on the other side. Accordingly, challenges and goals for national public administrations are indicted.

Causes and consequences of intellectual migration of human capital in the context of national security: Public administrative aspect

The article considers theoretical and practical approaches to processes of the international intellectual migration and investigates modern processes of this phenomenon, their feature, the precondition and the reason at the present. The special attention is given to the role of intellectual migration of human capital on the landscape of national security of countries. It is shown that although the problem of intellectual migration of human capital, “brain drain”, previously attracted economists and sociologists, today it is in the center of attention of political scientists and researchers of international relations. The relationship between intellectual migration of human capital and soft power is considered.Potential vectors of public administration combatting negative consequences of intellectual migration of human capital within the plane of national security.

International migration of human resources in the conditions of geo-economic transformations as the main influence on the components of sustainable development of Ukraine in the context of national security

The article makes an attempt to comprehend state of the art, perspectives and risks within the realm of human resources migration from Ukraine in the context of today geoeconomic and geopolitical processes and the need to ensure the proper level of national security, as well as maintaining the course towards achievement of sustainable development goals. In the process of study, based on method of synthesis and neorealism philosophical paradigm of research, cases were considered, in particular cases of EU and China, which allow systematizing the vision of countries’ performance in today complex global realities and latent backgrounds of migration processes.

Design of Social Infrastructure and Services Taking into Account Internal Migration by Age Cohort

Abstract Background European cities and regions are facing depopulation and an ageing population, leading to a shift in the demand and supply of goods and giving rise to the silver economy. This demographic change has an impact on urban and regional planning, which is influenced by both internal and external migration. Objectives Based on the hypothesis that the attractiveness of locations also depends on the age of the inhabitants, the paper investigates the gravitational effects on the intensity of migration flows by age cohorts. Methods/Approach This study examines how factors that influence the retention or attraction of people towards specific areas affect migration between age groups at different hierarchical spatial levels, using the gravity model implemented at the Slovenian spatial levels NUTS 2 and NUTS 3. Results Distance is least important for the 65-74 age group, while wages influence only the youngest cohorts. The capacity of care homes has a significant influence on the attractiveness of older cohorts to move between NUTS 2 regions. There is a high correlation between the factors at the municipal and NUTS 3 levels for the population aged 75+. The factors at NUTS 2 and NUTS 3 levels show a strong correlation for those under 65. Conclusions These results can form a basis for the development of the silver economy as they show the need for adapted infrastructures and services for older adults. As the age structure is changing, authorities should adapt infrastructures and services to the different levels of central places/regions. The growing number of older people makes research into optimal solutions for long-term care a crucial factor for the silver economy.

Contested categories in the context of international migration: introduction to the special issue

ABSTRACT In this introduction to the special issue Contested Categories in the Context of International Migration, we argue for the importance of critically engaging with state-created categories and classification systems. We advocate doing so in the particularly convoluted context of international migration, where states use categories to manage migrants’ entry, reception, and residence, making categorisation extremely consequential for individual migrants, even though bureaucratic documentation and everyday understandings of categories often differ greatly between migrants’ home countries and receiving states. We outline some of the scholarship on categorisation that has inspired our thinking, discuss why migration is such an important and generative site for examining categories and processes of categorisation, and finally consider how the contributions in this special issue attest to this.

Spatial variations in health service utilization among migrant population: a perspective on health equity.

As health equity becomes a prioritized goal in global health policy, extensive research has revealed that socio-economic and geographical factors jointly exacerbate barriers to medical service access for both internal and international migrant populations, further accelerating existing health disparities. This study explores healthcare service utilization disparities among internal migrants in China, a population profoundly affected by the country's economic reforms and urbanization since the late 1970s. These transformations have led to significant migratory movements and subsequent healthcare challenges for these populations. Leveraging data from the 2017 China Migrant Dynamic Survey, comprising 169,989 samples across 28 provinces, we introduce a novel metric-the "No Treatment ratio" (NT-ratio). This ratio quantifies the proportion of migrants who, after falling ill, choose not to seek treatment relative to the total migrant population in a given province or region, serving as a critical measure of health risk. Building upon Anderson's Behavioral Model of Health Services Use, we adapted the model to better reflect the unique circumstances of migrant populations. The study employs spatial autocorrelation, hotspot analysis, and geodetector techniques to dissect the multifaceted factors influencing healthcare disparities. Our Findings reveal that the NT-ratio is significantly higher in eastern and northeastern China. Key factors influencing the NT-ratio include age, left-behind experiences, health education, and per capita medical resources. In response to these disparities, we recommend optimizing the distribution of medical resource, strengthening tiered diagnosis and treatment systems, and integrating health, education, and social security resources. These measures aim to improve healthcare utilization among migrant populations and reduce health inequities, aligning with global health objectives.

The effect of internal migration on regional growth in Italy: a dynamic spatial panel data analysis

This study assesses the effect of internal migration on regional growth in Italy at the NUTS-3 level over the period 2002-2019. The composition of the internal migration flows of the working-age population in Italy during the sample period appears substantially heterogeneous in nationality and labor skills. The analysis considers this heterogeneity, estimating various specifications of the dynamic spatial model and controlling for the endogeneity of migration variables through a control function approach. e evidence suggests that the internal migration of Italian citizens has a positive direct and spillover impact on regional growth, slowing down the convergence process. On the contrary, there is no evidence of a significant effect of internal migration of foreign citizens. Taking the skill composition of internal movements of Italian citizens into account, the adverse impact on convergence is magnified, thus corroborating the skill-selective hypothesis. Finally, the diverging impact of internal migration increases with the distance of migration flows.

Regional disparities in amenities and the life satisfaction of internal migrants

While migrants pursue better incomes, they might be driven by differences in amenities between the place of origin and destination. This study aims to determine the effect of differences in health, educational amenities, and the operational capacity between the place of origin and destination on the life satisfaction of internal migrants. To do so, a generalized ordered logit model is estimated using data from the Survey of Employment, Unemployment and Underemployment of Ecuador for the editions from 2015 to 2017. Our results show that income and amenities are not competing reasons for life satisfaction, they go hand in hand. Differences in health and educational amenities, as well as variations in the operational capacity of local governments between the places of origin and destination, have an influence on the life satisfaction of internal migrants. These effects vary depending on the age of the migrant, the size of the city of origin and destination, the reason for migration, and the duration of residence.

Understanding migration power in international studies

Abstract Where and how does power operate in the governance of international migration? Migrants and refugees are increasingly used for strategic purposes in international politics, but scholarship on this matter has yet to engage thoroughly with the central International Relations concept of power. This article draws on the thinking of Michael Barnett and Raymond Duvall to propose a well-rounded picture of the multiple forms of power in, through or against migration that are mobilized by states and other international actors. We thus conceptualize migration power across two relational dimensions: the nature of the social relations between the actors involved (interactive or constitutive) and the specificity of such relations (direct or diffuse). This leads us to distinguish between four complementary types of migration power—compulsory, institutional, structural and productive—and to identify the main causal mechanisms through which they operate. We argue that power in international migration governance is diffuse, wielded by a wide range of actors, unevenly spread across its different dimensions, and yet, deeply asymmetrical in its distribution along intersecting axes: namely global North vs South, as well as state vs non-state. Beyond academia, the recognition of this complexity can encourage more reflexivity in policy-making and more sensitivity among practitioners.

The Impact of Migration on Smoking among Colombian Migrants

Background: Colombian migration globally has had many consequences. This study focuses solely on the smoking behavior of Colombian migrants. This study addresses how the act of international migration impacts the likelihood of smoking among Colombian migrants. Smoking has been found to be the leading cause of preventable death, and so it is a health risk for Colombian migrants. This study pertains to the communities sampled in Colombia, where the migrants originated. Methods: This study uses the Latin American Migration Project to address how migration impacts the smoking behavior of Colombian migrants. Using logit regression, the statistical analysis predicts the likelihood of smoking among Colombian migrants. This study compares the smoking behavior of current and former Colombian migrants, which is compared to that of Colombian non-migrants. Because current and former migrants were surveyed, the study is able to control for health selectivity. Results: After accounting for health selectivity, the study finds that migration, as measured by time abroad, is positively and significantly related with the smoking of migrants relative to non-migrants. Additionally, this study shows that former migrants are more likely to smoke than current migrants, providing support for the salmon effect. Conclusion: This study adds to the literature on smoking by studying an understudied group, Colombian migrants, and provides a better measure of the impact of migration on smoking behavior by accounting for health selectivity and the salmon bias. The findings are consistent with assimilation theory, as more time abroad is associated with negative health behaviors that are common in the culture of the receiving country, but the fact that such behaviors are harmful to the migrant is consistent with the immigrant health paradox.

Does built environment improvement promote transport equity for internal migrants in Beijing?

Numerous studies and practices leverage improvements in the built environment to encourage green transportation due to its significant potential to shape travel behaviors. Yet, the equity impacts of these improvements on vulnerable populations remain underexplored. This study seeks to address the question: whether built environment improvement strategies advance transport equity? Using a travel survey from Beijing and combining the Capability Approach with the Random Parameter Logit model, we develop a multilevel discrete choice model to estimate capability changes for four hypothetical scenarios of built environment improvement and conduct transportation equity analysis using Maximax principle. Our results show that increasing the mix of land use is prioritized to enhance commuting equity for carless internal migrants. Expanding bus route coverage is recommended to alleviate commuting inequality for low-income internal migrants. However, increasing road density or decreasing the distance to the nearest metro station may not effectively mitigate commuting inequities for disadvantaged internal migrants.

Urbanization and Child Development

In recent decades, the rate of urbanization has been rapid, transforming the world and the people that take part in this global trend. Urbanization has often been studied and discussed with a focus on adults, societies, and social dynamics, without an emphasis on the psychological processes of young members of society, the children that grow up in transition. This review aims to address the significant and complex relationship between urbanization and child development, focusing on physical health, mental health, and cognitive outcomes. By outlining some of the links between socioeconomic themes associated with urbanization (i.e., internal migration, poverty, income inequality, neighborhoods, and discrimination) and by discussing their role in development, the present review situates the child in the urban context. Taken together, the relevant evidence suggests that urbanization, as a multidimensional construct, brings benefits and poses some risk factors for development. Therefore, a greater focus on the characteristics of the economic, cultural, and social context shaped by urbanization is essential for an in-depth understanding of urbanization and child development.

Assessing the Intersectional Impact of Domestic Migration Law: Reacting to State-Created Categories and Vulnerabilities of Asylum Seekers in Israel

Assessing the Intersectional Impact of Domestic Migration Law: Reacting to State-Created Categories and Vulnerabilities of Asylum Seekers in Israel