Latin American Migration Project Research Articles

Determinants of Emigration: Comparing Migrants’ Selectivity from Peru and Mexico

Although Latin American migrants to the United States, particularly Mexicans, are typically portrayed as poor and uneducated, some, such as Peruvians, are disproportionately well educated compared to those who never left their countries. This article examines who emigrates and why by comparing migrants’ selectivity from Mexico and Peru. Using the Peruvian data of the Latin American Migration Project (LAMP), collected in five communities in Lima between 2001 and 2005, and comparable data for twelve urban communities from the Mexican Migration Project (MMP), the authors compare the determinants of out-migration from these two countries. The results show that the difference in migrant selectivity is not so much attributable to migrants’ legal status, urban versus rural origins, demographic background, or geographic distance. Rather, a crucial difference lies in the nature of migrant networks, or how networks develop over time and how migrants utilize networks in migrating.

Occupational Mobility among Returned Migrants in Latin America: A Comparative Analysis

This article draws on data from the Mexican Migration Project and the Latin American Migration Project to study patterns of occupational mobility among male migrant household heads who have returned from the United States to Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Puerto Rico. In general, migration to the United States increases the likelihood of upward mobility relative to nonmigrants if it begins at a relatively young age (before twenty-five), particularly in Costa Rica and Guatemala, where mobility is generally more fluid. In all countries, but especially Mexico, mobility prospects depend on a migrant’s own characteristics and the characteristics of the U.S. trip, as well the context of return. Education generally enhances occupational achievement upon return, as does greater U.S. experience and the holding of a nonmanual U.S. job, but taking more trips and having legal U.S. documents are generally associated with lower odds of occupational achievement at home.

Assessing Human Capital Transferability into the U.S. Labor Market among Latino Immigrants to the United States

Scholars have questioned whether international migrants from Latin America are able to transfer their levels of education into the U.S. labor market. In this article, the author examines the data from the Latin American Migration Project for Guatemala, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua to observe the ability of each of the immigrant groups to convert prior education into occupational attainments within the U.S. labor market. Results show intercountry differences in the ability of the immigrants to translate educational attainments into occupational outcomes. Nicaraguans are by far the most educated and are much better able to translate home country schooling into highly skilled U.S. occupations. However, findings reveal that Nicaraguans have received more of an occupational benefit from having legal documents. The author argues that in addition to divergent patterns of educational selectivity, the contrasting treatment of Nicaraguans and Mexicans by U.S. immigration law seems to be responsible, at least in part, for their very different positions in the U.S. labor market.

Remittance Receipt and Business Ownership in the Dominican Republic

Using household‐level data from the Dominican communities in the Latin American Migration Project (LAMP‐DR7), we examine the links between remittance receipt and business ownership. We find that while the existence of a family business attracts remittance inflows, these monetary funds are associated with a reduced likelihood of business entrepreneurship. These results are consistent with various hypotheses regarding remittances and business investments. First, remittances may be motivated by the availability of investment opportunities in the home community. Second, remittances may respond to a bequest motive on the part of the emigrant, who may wish to lay claim on family assets when returning home. Lastly, remittances may cause an income effect that reduces family labour force participation and, correspondingly, the likelihood of family‐run business investments.

The Impact of Social Capital on The Earnings of Puerto Rican Migrants

There is a paucity of studies examining the relationship between Puerto Ricans' social capital and their earnings. I utilized data from the Latin American Migration Project (collected in 1998 and 1999) to test five hypotheses derived from social capital theory to predict the hourly earnings of Puerto Rican migrants. My study illustrates that Puerto Rican migrants' social capital is positively related with their earnings. Interestingly, the social capital effects only pertain to Puerto Rican females. Additionally, Puerto Rican migrants do not benefit from ethnic solidarity in terms of increased wages. My analyses point toward social capital's ability to provide important labor market information to Puerto Rican females, which they appear to use to acquire jobs paying higher wages.Social capital theory has been applied to many different phenomenon including banking, education, immigration, labor markets, and nation building (Massey et al. 1987; Coleman 1988; Uzzi 1999; Fernandez, Castilla, and Moore 2000; Putnam 2000). Within the labor market, social capital has been found to be related with earnings, employment, formal employment, and job tenure (Mier and Giloth 1986; Donato, Durand, and Massey 1992; Aguilera 1999; 2003; Philips and Massey 1999; Aguilera and Massey 2003). Within the immigration field, social capital has been linked with the migration process, labor market outcomes, and attainment of citizenship (Massey et al. 1987; Baker 2000; Aguilera and Massey 2003; Fussell 2004). Unfortunately, Puerto Ricans have been unstudied within this massive literature about social capital. Additionally, gender differences in returns to social capital are only just beginning to be recognized and there is little agreement as to whether males or females benefit most from social capital. I studied the relationship between social capital and labor market outcomes of Puerto Rican migrants, paying special attention to differences in gender.

Household Composition, Family Migration, and Community Context: Migrant Remittances in Four Countries*

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.

Politics or Economics? International Migration during the Nicaraguan Contra War

The issue of whether Central Americans in the United States are 'political' or 'economic' migrants has been widely debated, yet little empirical research has informed the controversy. Earlier studies have relied primarily on cross-sectional aggregate data. In order to overcome these limitations we draw on recent surveys conducted in five Nicaraguan communities by the Latin American Migration Project. Using retrospective data, we reconstruct a history of a family's migration to the United States and Costa Rica from the date of household formation to the survey date and link these data to national-level data on GDP and Contra War violence. While out migration to both Costa Rica and the United States is predicted by economic trends, US-bound migration was more strongly linked to the level of Contra War violence independent of economic motivations, especially in an interactive model that allows for a higher wartime effect of social networks. We conclude that elevated rates of Nicaraguan migration to the United States during the late 1980s and early 1990s were a direct result of the US-Contra intervention. The approach deployed here - which relates to the timing of migration decisions to macro-level country trends - enables us to address the issue of political versus economic motivations for migration with more precision than prior work.