New Economics Of Labour Migration Research Articles

Climate variability and migration in Bihar: An empirical analysis

The increased frequency and severity of natural hazards threaten rural livelihoods and accentuate rural to urban migration in developing countries. In this paper, we study the relationship between climate variability, hazards and migration in the context of Bihar, a state in India, experiencing floods every year affecting lives, livelihoods and loss and damage to public infrastructures. The extant literature shows that communities exposed to repeated disasters resort to migration as an adaptation strategy. An enquiry into the reasons behind migration have been a continuous process but the complex inter-connections between economic, geographic, socio-politico and environmental or even the human psychological factors, make such an enquiry complicated. The study consider 29 districts in the state and use data from three Census rounds (1991, 2001 and 2011) to empirically analyse the relationship. The theoretical foundations of the New Economics of Labour Migration (NELM, 1985) provides the basis for the empirical analysis. We use the 2SLS approach for analysing this relationship. The results show that higher flood intensity may increase migration outflow. Further, temperature variability and rainfall variability statistically affect the flood intensity index but the impact of the latter is found to be weaker. NELM is partially validated by the findings from this study and therefore, contrary to general perception that relative deprivation and growth prospects are the only factor behind mobility, we find climatic variability too play an important role.

Climate Induced Migration of Wolof Farmers Into Foni Bondali District, Gambia

Adger, W.N., Kelly, P.M., Winkels, A., Huy, L.Q. and Locke, C. (2002). Migration, remittances, livelihood trajectories, and social resilience. AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment, Vol. 31 No. 4, p. 358-366. Alagie Bah. (2018). Farmers Awareness and Adaptation to Climate Change in Kaffrine Region of Senegal. German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the West African Science Service Centre in Climate Change and Adapted Land Use Bhatta, G.D., Aggarwal, P.K., Kristjanson, P. and Shrivastava, A.K. (2016). Climatic and non climatic factors influencing changing agricultural practices across different rainfallregimes in South Asia”, Current Science Vol. 110 No. 7, p. 1272. Census of the Gambia (2014). Government of the Gambia, Banjul Chandan Kumar, Jha, Vijaya Gupta, Utpal Chattopadhyay, Binilkumar and Amarayil Sreeraman. (2017). Migration as adaptation strategy to cope with climate change: A study of farmers’ migration in rural India. International Journal of Climate ChangeStrategies and Management. Volume 10:1 Cho Renee. (2021). Climate Migration: An Impending Global Challenge. Columbia ClimateSchool. Climate, Earth and Society. Climate of Foni Bondali District (2022). Ministry of Water Resources, Banjul, Gambia. Conway, D. and Cohen, J.H. (1998). Consequences of migration and remittances for Mexicantransnational communities. Economic Geography, Vol. 74 No. 1, pp. 26-44. Bradatan, C. and Hayhoe, K. (2013). Migration and Climate change in Senegal. Texas Tech University De Haan, A., Brock, K. and Coulibaly, N. (2002). Migration, livelihoods and institutions:contrasting patterns of migration in Mali. Journal of Development Studies. Vol. 38 No. 5, pp. 37-58. De Haas, H. (2010), Migration and development: a theoretical perspective1. The InternationalMigration Review. Vol. 44 No. 1, pp. 227-264. Jha, C.K., Gupta, V., Chattopadhyay, U. and Amarayil Sreeraman, B. (2018). Migration as adaptation strategy to cope with climate change: A study of farmers’ migration in rural India. International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management. Vol. 10 No.1, pp. 121-141. Massey, D.S., Arango, J., Hugo, G., Kouaouci, A., Pellegrino, A. and Taylor, J.E. (1993).Theories of international migration: a review and appraisal. Population and Development. Review. Vol. 19 No. 3, pp. 431-466. Oli Brown. (2007). Fighting Climate Change: Human solidarity in a divided world. Human Development Report 2007/2008. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/climate-forced-migration.pdf Science for Environment Policy. (2015). Migration in response to environmental change. European Commission. Thematic Issue 51. Taylor, E.J. (1999). The new economics of labour migration and the role of remittances in the migration Process. International Migration (Geneva, Switzerland). Vol. 37 No. 1, pp. 63-88. Woodruff, C. and Zenteno, R. (2007). Migration networks and microenterprises in Mexico. Journal of Development Economics. Vol. 82 No. 2, pp. 509-528.

Real estate in the home country: Why Polish migrants keep properties in Poland

AbstractReal estate is often the most visible contribution that emigrants add to their home country's landscape. Such properties serve different functions, from rental investments, through migrant families' homes, to holiday homes or empty spaces. Economists often view real estate through financial lens, frowning upon vacant houses. I argue that keeping vacant houses is often caused by social and emotional factors rather than financial ones. This article uses data from 120 qualitative interviews with Polish EU migrants and juxtaposes them with the typology of remittance houses proposed by Boccagni and Erdal. The data, combined with the theoretical perspective of Neoclassical Economics, New Economics of Labour Migration, and Grzymała‐Kazłowska's concept of social anchoring, allow me to improve the typology. The updated typology systematises the functions of and reasons why migrants keep properties in their home countries and provides a sound frame for future research and policymaking.

Assessing the impact of off-farm employment on land efficiency in different patterns: Field evidence from post-reform China

The three rights separation reform (TRSR) has laid a concrete foundation institutionally to guide the well-ordered transfer of farmland and promoting the development of urbanization. With the new economics of labour migration (hereinafter referred to as the NELM) theory as the analytic basis, this empirical research investigates the potential ramifications of off-farm employment on land efficiency with household-based survey data from four provinces in China after TRSR. Unlike existing studies, we delve into how the effects are manifested differently among the types of off-farm employment by adopting an ordinary least squares (OLS) model and a two-stage least squares (2SLS) estimator. It provides evidence that migration positively affect land efficiency significantly, whereas a negative impact of local off-farm employment on land efficiency is observed, which distinct this study from previous findings. From the perspective of policy-making, land administrators should realize that off-farm employment differentiation is an important factor affecting land efficiency, and therefore needs to be fully considered in policy-making. Meanwhile, the establishment of local labor markets and favorable policies that stimulate productive technologies are needed.

Heterogeneous effects of rural–urban migration and migrant earnings on land efficiency: Empirical evidence from China

On the basis of the conceptual framework of the new economics of labour migration (NELM), this paper demonstrates the effects of rural–urban migration and migrant earnings on land efficiency supported by household-based survey data in six Chinese provinces. Unlike existing literature, we differentiated the effects according to the type of migration and household wealth concurrently. By adopting a two-stage least squares (2SLS) estimator and a recursive mixed-process model, we provide evidence that seasonal and permanent migration negatively affects land efficiency but with no significant difference between the two effects. Migrant earnings results in higher land efficiency, but the compensating effects fall with an increase in household wealth. Interactive analysis on the basis of three wealth groups also illustrates the large compensating effect in the group with less wealth and a descending trend in face of increase in household wealth, which further confirms the robustness of the results.

Migration as conflict risk-management: testing the new economics of labour migration as a framework for understanding refugee decision-making

ABSTRACT FitzGerald and Arar (2018. “The Sociology of Refugee Migration.” Annual Review of Sociology 44 (1): 387–406) suggest that adapting the New Economics of Labour Migration Theory (NELM) to include the risk of violence as another risk managed through migration could provide a framework to analyze refugee and ‘mixed migration’ decision-making. I use original data from a case study to evaluate this proposed theoretical extension. Drawing on interviews with 21 middle-class Iraqis who settled in the Greater Toronto area following the 2003 US-led invasion, I find that participants who entered Canada as both refugee and non-refugee migrants self-insured against risks to physical and socio-economic safety through migration. I argue that foregrounding state policies, which delineate the legal statuses available to potential migrants and their associated rights and obligations, improves NELM’s utility for explaining migration from conflict. By sampling on the country of origin, rather than destination country entry category, I show that host-state policies structure the risks of migration and, consequently, family risk-management decisions and mobility patterns. Additionally, those motivated to migrate due to violence can self-insure against these risks by negotiating legal status as a means to safety if they have the resources to meet restrictive policy requirements. Thus, this paper suggests that better-resourced migrants may be at an advantage when fleeing conflict.

Remain or return? Return migration intentions of Brazilian immigrants in Japan

AbstractThis paper aims to explore the factors associated with the return intentions of Brazilians in Japan. It examines hypotheses drawn from two economic perspectives of migration, neoclassical economics (NE) and the New Economics of Labour Migration (NELM) using survey data obtained from the Shizuoka Prefecture. The degree of sociocultural integration and immigrants’ ties to Brazil and Japan are also considered. The findings support both NE and NELM, suggesting that Brazilian immigrants in Japan are a diverse group, differing substantially in their migration motivations and family strategies. However, one‐third of immigrants are undecided about whether to stay or return. In the future, the number of intended stayers is expected to increase as schooling in Japan is one of the strongest determinants of intention to stay. Future research should focus on the transitions of immigrants’ return intentions, as the indecisiveness may exert a negative impact on immigrant children's integration.

Migration, family and networks: Timorese seasonal workers' social support in Australia

This paper explores the social support of Timorese workers under the Australian Seasonal Workers Programme (SWP). The SWP, which allows citizens from Pacific Island countries and Timor‐Leste to work in Australian agriculture for six to nine months, has become the major source of remittances for seasonal workers from Timor‐Leste. The paper describes how access to the internet and the availability of social media devices can help to maintain long‐distance family relationships, support migrants' well‐being and alleviate the effects of socio‐spatial segregation to some extent. However, the need to earn remittances in a fixed period of time forces them to accept a trade‐off in the quality of their social and personal lives in rural Australia. According to the New Economics of Labour Migration (NELM), isolation and separation from families are part of a rational household strategy to accumulate remittances. This paper argues that insufficient attention has been paid to the social costs borne by workers and left‐behind households and that the sustainability of the SWP depends to a large extent on the ability of workers to find ways of meeting their needs for social support. The analysis is based on data from participant observation and semi‐structured interviews with 50 Timorese seasonal workers in Australia and Timor‐Leste.

Bride kidnapping and gendered labor migration: evidence from Kyrgyzstan

ABSTRACT Because the decision to migrate is a product of gendered negotiations within households, households formed through forced marriage may have different migration strategies than households formed through voluntary marriage. In Kyrgyzstan, we anticipate two possible effects of the traditional practice of bride kidnapping on migration. Households headed by a kidnap couple may be more cohesive and patriarchal, facilitating men’s labour migration and remittance-sending. Alternately, women may use migration to escape such households. We test these two hypotheses using a sample of 1,171 households in rural Kyrgyzstan. Kidnap households are more likely to include women migrants, compared to other households. Kidnap households are also more likely to be receiving remittances, even when controlling for migrant household members. However, traditional beliefs about kidnapping are negatively associated with men’s and women’s migration. While higher levels of remittance receipt among kidnap households resembles the unified, patriarchal households envisioned in the New Economics of Labour Migration, it also appears that women use labour migration as a means to escape patriarchal constraints. We demonstrate that forced marriage in Kyrgyzstan plays a larger social role than is often believed, and highlight a new pathway through which gendered power dynamics can shape household migration strategies.

Migration Policy in the Context of Sustainable Development

The issues of sustainable development are related to the need in order to reduce poverty, inequality, insecurity, inclusion of immigrants in the system of education and health care, which contradicts the effective long-term solution of the global goals of EU migration policy. The aim of the research is to study the effectiveness of migration policy in the context of sustainable development on the example of EU countries in order to formulate proposals for overcoming the problems of inequality and poverty as priority goals. The results of the research complement the theory of the new economics of labour migration, considering this concept as a way to maximize income and reduce the risk of revenue through education, higher wages and a way to get better health and education services, access to developed infrastructure. However, the heterogeneity of the effects of migration is also reflected in the inability to obtain health services and access to the education system due to the high cost. All this exacerbates the problems of inequality and poverty due to the imbalance of both income and the cost of social services in different EU countries. It has been determined that the policy of integration of immigrants does not ensure the achievement of the goal of inclusive and equitable socialeconomic welfare. Inequality, in particular, gender one remains the main problem of sustainable development through illegal employment and different levels of remuneration. It has been proved that training should be considered in the context of sustainable development as providing access to the education system and programs. Despite the growing participation in educational programs and training of immigrants, the problems of inequality and poverty remain a priority for ensuring sustainable development.

Impact of occupational migration of unskilled labourer from domestic agriculture on farm business income in source households of Assam, India

PurposeThe present study aims at examining the determinants of occupational migration of unskilled labourer from domestic agriculture and their impact on farm business income (FBI) in Assam, India.Design/methodology/approachPrimary data for this study were collected during June–November, 2019 from 224 farm (cultivator) households in two contiguous districts in central Brahmaputra valley of Assam. The study used three-stage least square (3SLS) estimation technique for jointly determining the factors influencing migration and remittances and their impact on FBI.FindingsThe result of this study confirms that occupational migration of unskilled labourer from domestic agriculture significantly reduced household FBI. In contrast to the inflow of remittances from migrants helped in increasing the FBI. The migration in the study area considerably influenced by household size, total value of assets holding, networking influence, distance to commercial bank and flood proneness of the village; while the number of migrants, number of dependents and age of migrants seen to be strong predictor of inflow of remittances. Findings of present study offer evidence in support of the new economics of labour migration (NELM) theory.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is restricted to a single crop (paddy) and constrained by the collection of longitudinal data with a revisit to the farm household pre and post-migration of the unskilled labourer from household agriculture.Originality/valueThis paper is based on a novel data set that has especially been collected to examine the determinants of occupational migration from agriculture and their impact on the FBI in Assam that has not been studied before.

From individual motivations to social determinants: towards a sociology of migrants’ remittances

AbstractMigrants may send remittances for a variety of reasons. Studies adopting the perspective of the new economics of labour migration (NEML) identify migrants’ altruism or self‐interest as the motivation for their remittances. This paper first recognises the limits of the NELM perspective due to its utilitarian conception of migrants’ altruism and inability to distinguish between altruism and self‐interest. The discussion also reveals a preponderance of quantitative studies examining remittance utilisation in the origin communities in the absence of the migrants who are sending the funds. These studies must necessarily indirectly deduce migrants’ motivation to send remittances, leading to post hoc and inconsistent interpretations. In a review of the existing literature, this paper identifies alternative conceptualisations of migrants’ agency and structures embedding their remittances as well as emergent properties of both their agency and those structures. Lastly, it outlines a heuristic typology to empirically study migrants’ remittances following Durkheim's approach to suicide, demonstrating the usefulness of this typology by citing examples from the literature as well as reflecting the author's dissertation research.

Remittance Behaviour of Intra-EU Migrants – Evidence from Hungary

After the eastern expansion of the European Union (EU), a large number of emigrants left their home countries to work in economically better developed western member states. Hungary followed this EU emigration trend with a certain time lag. However, the rising number of emigrants caused structural problems in the domestic labour market. A comprehensive examination of intra-EU remittances as one of the major determinants of migration has been outside the scope of recent research activity. The data from the Hungarian Microcensus survey and the first Hungarian household survey focusing on the topic of remittances can provide a valuable case study of intra-EU private transfer flows.
 The aims of this study are twofold. On the one hand we intend to provide empirical evidence for the major factors that determine remittance propensity by calculating probit regressions. On the other hand, OLS regressions are calculated in order to introduce variables which are associated with money transfers. These results are interpreted within the theoretical framework of the New Economics of Labour Migration (NELM) to identify the underlying motivations for remittances. The most important findings are that older men with vocational school education have the highest remittance propensity, and the likelihood of sending private support is higher among short-term migrants. As the key factors, the income of the sender person is positively associated with the sum of money flows, while the income of the receiving household is negatively associated. Within the theoretical framework of NELM, these results favour the dominance of altruistic motives, since supporting the household members who remain behind seems to be the major driving force. However, when intentions of returning home are considered in the models, it seems that self-interest might also play a role as a driver of remittances. Within this study, the main focus was on the characteristics of the senders, meaning that a possible field of future research could be an examination of these questions from the perspective of remittance receiver households.

Environmental migration and displacement: a new theoretical framework for the study of migration aspirations in response to environmental changes

ABSTRACTMigration has existed in all times and places and people have migrated for a variety of (combined) reasons: environmental, economic, political, humanitarian, social and cultural. While social and political conflicts that have arisen out of environmental changes are not new, environmental changes have placed some living conditions and other reasons for migration under even more pressure. In this paper, we combine insights from two approaches to the study of environmental migration and displacement – namely ‘the sustainable livelihoods approach’ and ‘the new economics of labour migration’ – and build further on existing models and theories of migration aspirations and dynamics. Based on these insights, we develop a theoretical framework on the study of migration aspirations and how they take shape within the existing structural constraints or capabilities for people living in areas heavily affected by environmental change using a multilevel perspective. The novelty of this model is that it focuses on migration aspirations when confronted with environmental changes. The multilevel approach, which includes the local social environment, incorporating the culture of migration of the living environment, one’s personal local and transnational networks, perceptions on environmental changes and local discourses thereof, is therefore of particular relevance.

The new ‘diaspora trap’ framework: Explaining return migration from South Africa to Zimbabwe beyond the ‘failure-success’ framework

This article explores how South Africa-based Zimbabwean skilled migrants are dissuaded from returning home permanently. The study was conceptualised against the background that return migration has often been explained based on migrant failure or success in the host country. This failure-success dichotomy stems from the neo-classical economics theory of migration, the new economics of labour migration and the structuralist approach to return migration. Using a qualitative methodological approach, this article challenges the failure-success theoretical position through an exploration of socio-economic factors in Zimbabwe and South Africa that deter permanent return migration. The article contributes to return migration theorising by introducing a new ‘diaspora trap’ framework which argues that permanent settlement is not always voluntary. Central to this involuntary permanent settlement is the social construction of migrants as successful in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwean skilled migrants are thus entrapped in South Africa because of failure to live up to the ‘success social construct,’ and their inability to mitigate adversities in the host country.

Theorizing migration-development interactions: towards an integrated approach

Globalization has resulted in accelerated rates of migration of people between countries both nationally and internationally. People often migrate in a bid to diversify their resources such as labour as well as self-insure against livelihood risks. This trend has resulted in an increase in the interactions of migration and development. Migrant remittances have emerged as a key factor constituting the core of these interactions. This paper seeks to review theories on the migration-development nexus in the context of remittances and their role in development. While this paper traces the evolution of migration theory, an attempt will be made to demonstrate the potential for integrating two theories, namely the New Economics of labour Migration and the Sustainable livelihoods Approach. It could be argued that the integration of these theories could best assist in understanding the migration-development nexus in a more holistic fashion. This could assist in a better understanding of migration-development interactions and in coming up with sound development interventions.

Estimating the Economic Effects of Remittances on the Left-Behind in Cambodia

Using propensity score matching with the 2009 Cambodia Socio-Economic Survey of households, this study examines the effects of remittances on indicators of household well-being: poverty, consumption and labour participation of non-migrant members. The theoretical framework is built upon a “new economics of labour migration”, hypothesising that the emigration decision is jointly determined by households and individual migrants and that remittances basically represent a form of contractual arrangements between them. The results indicate that households with at least one migrant member and which receive remittances could reduce their poverty headcount rate by 3-7 percentage points vis-a-vis their matched controls. Remittances also reduce depth and severity of poverty of treated households. On the contrary, remittances generate a 5-9 percent “dependency effect” on working age adults who are employed due to reduced weekly hours worked. The impact of remittances on labour participation and salary income is, however, vulnerable to unobservable factors.

Poverty Transition in Rural Vietnam: The Role of Migration and Remittances

This study combines insights of the New Economics of Labour Migration with the asset-based approach to welfare dynamics using panel household data from Vietnam. This method allows us to determine whether poverty transitions induced by remittances are actually structural, that is, based on asset growth and therefore long term, or stochastic, that is, based only on short-term increases in income, which implies a risk of falling back into poverty. To control for endogeneity of remittances, we use household fixed effects and instrumental variables estimation. The paper shows that remittances have a positive impact on asset growth and that the impact differs with welfare status and ethnicity.

Migration and agricultural intensification at origin: evidence from farm households in Central Africa

Migration and remittances has potential to improve development in rural areas but in Rwanda and Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo empirical work is still limited. We used New Economics of Labour Migration as analytical framework to explain the role of migration and remittances on crop intensification. A randomly selected sample of 480 farm households were interviewed. We found that out-migration negatively influence input use while remittance does not affect their use either. We recommend smart input subsidies and policy on their distribution to create higher incomes, thus discouraging massive rural out-migration. In addition, creation of an enabling investment environment in the sending areas by improving basic infrastructure and efficiently channelling extension messages to farmers would increase intensification and crop yields.

A Missing Element in Migration Theories

From the mid-1950s through the mid1980s, migration between Mexico and the United States constituted a stable system whose contours were shaped by social and economic conditions well-theorized by prevailing models of migration. It evolved as a mostly circular movement of male workers going to a handful of U.S. states in response to changing conditions of labor supply and demand north and south of the border, relative wages prevailing in each nation, market failures and structural economic changes in Mexico, and the expansion of migrant networks following processes specified by neoclassical economics, segmented labor market theory, the new economics of labor migration, social capital theory, world systems theory, and theoretical models of state behavior. After 1986, however, the migration system was radically transformed, with the net rate of migration increasing sharply as movement shifted from a circular flow of male workers going a limited set of destinations to a nationwide population of settled families. This transformation stemmed from a dynamic process that occurred in the public arena to bring about an unprecedented militarization of the Mexico-U.S. border, and not because of shifts in social, economic, or political factors specified in prevailing theories. In this paper I draw on earlier work to describe that dynamic process and demonstrate its consequences, underscoring the need for greater theoretical attention to the self-interested actions of politicians, pundits, and bureaucrats who benefit from the social construction and political manufacture of immigration crises when none really exist.