Abstract
One goal of sending workers abroad is to speed development at home so that the children of migrant workers do not feel compelled to seek upward mobility abroad. This raises the question of how labor migration in one period affects migration in subsequent periods, and the channels through which migration affects economic and job growth in migrant-sending countries. There is no automatic link between migration and development, so that countries are not transformed automatically from labor-senders to labor-receivers in a decade or two because of out-migration. Most of the major economic effects of migration on development are found in the 3 R-channels, viz, recruitment, remittances, and returns. Migration can set in motion virtuous circles, so that emigration now is followed by stay-at-home development in the future, or vicious circles, so that migration today is followed by more emigration pressure tomorrow.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Lemert (2005, p. 176) says there were fewer than 50 generally recognized nation states in 1900.
- 2.
The factor-price equalization theorem assumes that there are two countries, C1 and C2, with two goods, G1 and G2, produced by two inputs, capital and labor (Mundell 1957). If G1 is capital intensive and G2 is labor intensive, and the price of capital relative to labor, R/W, is lower in C1 than in C2, C1 is the capital–intensive country and C-2 is the labor-intensive country. Countries export primarily commodities that require intensive use of the relatively cheaper factor, so that C1 should export mostly G1 to C2, while C2 exports G2 to C1, narrowing the costs of capital and labor in the two trading countries. With wage differences narrowing, there is less economic incentive to migrate from the lower to the higher-wage country, that is, trade is a substitute for migration.
- 3.
Jamaica has replaced some of its emigrant health care workers with Cubans.
- 4.
Quoted in Migration News (2001). Latin America. 8(10), October. http://migration.ucdavis.edu/mn/more.php?id=2468_0_2_0.
- 5.
The Philippines Nurses Association Inc. (PNA) estimated in 2002 that 150,885 Filipino nurses were abroad, and noted that experienced nurses with specialty training were most in demand overseas.
- 6.
Since it is easiest to go abroad as a nurse, some Filipino doctors, who earn US$ 300–800 a month, are reportedly retraining as nurses so they can emigrate.
- 7.
For example, one agency promises Filipino nurses that their US hospital employers will sponsor them for immigrant visas (www.nursestousa.com/).
- 8.
Quoted in Migration News (2002). Southeast Asia. 9 (6), June. http://migration.ucdavis.edu/mn/more.php?id=2650_0_3_0.
- 9.
Trade in services, which are often produced and consumed simultaneously, as with haircuts, and sometimes change the consumer, totaled US$ 4.1 trillion in 2011. There are four major modes or ways to provide services across national borders: cross-border supply, consumption abroad, foreign direct investment (FDI) or commercial presence, and Mode 4 migration, which the GATS refers to as the temporary movement of “natural persons.” Mode 4 remittances are about US$ 200 billion a year, less than six percent of total trade in services.
- 10.
“Govt Sets Up Task Force On Health Tourism,” Financial Express, 11 January 2004.
- 11.
About 60 % of foreigners who seek treatment in Malaysia are from Indonesia. In October 2003, the Health Ministry set fees for three packages priced between RM450 and RM1,150, and recommended floor and ceiling prices for 18 procedures. (“Robust growth in revenue for health tourism sector,” Business Times (Malaysia), 4 February 2004.)
- 12.
A third item not generally included in discussions of remittances are migrants’ transfers, the net worth of migrants who move from one country to another.For example, if a person with stock migrates from one country to another, the value of the stock owned moves from one country to another in international accounts.
- 13.
The Mexican government, without admitting it lost the 10 % of Bracero wages withheld by employers and sent via banks to Mexico, agreed in 2005 to pay US$ 3,500 in compensation to Braceros living in Mexico. However, only 49,000 of the 212,000 Mexican applicants could provide the required documentation to receive payments. Rural Migration News (2009). H-2 A Re-Engineering, Braceros. Volume 15 Number 1 January. http://migration.ucdavis.edu/rmn/more.php?id=1408_0_4_0.
- 14.
Automatic stabilizers in developed countries, such as unemployment insurance, help to stabilize the flow of remittances to developing countries that have the same economic cycles as the countries in which their migrants work.
- 15.
These students were highly motivated to pursue advanced studies.Before they could go abroad, they had to complete two years of military service and obtain private or overseas financing.
- 16.
Shanghai reportedly has 30,000 returned professionals, 90 % with MS or PhD degrees earned abroad, who are employed or starting businesses (Kaufman, Jonathan, “China Reforms Bring Back Executives Schooled in US,”Wall Street Journal, 6 March 2003; Tempest, Rone, “China Tries to Woo Its Tech Talent Back Home,” Los Angeles Times, 25 November 2002).
- 17.
Quoted in Beattie, Alan, “Seeking Consensus on the Benefits of Immigration,” Financial Times, 22 July 2002, p. 9.
- 18.
Andres Bermudez, California’s so-called Tomato King, was elected mayor of his 60,000 resident hometown, Jerez, in the state of Zacatecas. He first won the election in 2001, but that victory was set aside because he had not lived in the town for 12 months. The residency requirement was reduced to six months and he was hailed as a binational symbol when he was elected mayor in 2004. He served as mayor for two years before making a failed bid for Mexico’s federal congress. (Quinones, Sam,“Andres Bermudez Dies at 58; ’Tomato King’ and Mexican Officeholder,” Los Angeles Times, 8 February 2009)
- 19.
The Economist, 17 November 2012. www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21566629-liberalising-migration-could-deliver-huge-boost-global-output-border-follies.
- 20.
A million Mexicans lost jobs in 1995, and two-thirds of the Mexican farmers questioned in one survey reported that their incomes had been reduced by a NAFTA-induced influx of corn, processed meat and milk products that lowered the prices they received for farm products in Mexico. An estimated 800,000 Mexicans entered the US, mostly illegally, in 1995.
- 21.
Estimate of Sharon Mutant of the University of Warwick noted in The Economist, 17 November 2012. www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21566629-liberalising-migration-could-deliver-huge-boost-global-output-border-follies.
- 22.
The present value of an average immigrant was US$ 89,000 in 1996, but was US$ 197,000 for immigrants with a high-school diploma or more and -US$ 13,000 for an immigrant with less than a high-school diploma.
- 23.
Total trade between Korea and the US was US$ 72 billion in 2004, the US ran a US$ 20 billion trade deficit, there were 28,900 Korean E, H, L, or TN admissions, and 829,000 total Korean admissions. Total trade with Australia was US$ 22 billion in 2004, the US ran a trade surplus of US$ 6.7 billion, there were 23,400 Australian E, H, L, or TN admissions, and 645,000 total Australian admissions. (Wasem 2007, Appendix A, CRS-22).
References
Abella, M., Martin, P., & Midgley, E. (2004). Best practices to manage migration: The Philippines. International Migration Review, 38(4), 1544–1559. (http://www.jstor.org/stable/27645456. Accessed 1 Apr 2013).
Ammassari, S., & Black, R. (2001). Harnessing the potential of migration and return to promote development. IOM Migration Research Series No. 5. Geneva: IOM.
Bhagwati, J. (2003). Borders beyond control. Foreign Affairs. January/February. www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/58622/jagdish-n-bhagwati/borders-beyond-control. Accessed 21 Feb 2014.
Clemons, M., & Pettersson, G. (2008). New data on african health professionals abroad. Human Resources for Health, 6, 1. (www.human-resources-health.com/content/6/1/1. Accessed 1 Apr 2013).
Connell, J. (2010). Migration and the globalization of health care: The health worker exodus? Edward Elgar. www.e-elgar.co.uk/bookentry_main.lasso?id=13013 & breadcrumlink=&breadcrum=&sub_values=&site_Bus_Man=&site_dev=&site_eco=&site_env_eco=&site_inn_tech=&site_int_pol=&site_law=&site_pub_soc. Accessed 1 Apr 2013.
Eng Fong, P. (1994). An eclectic approach to turning points in migration. Asian and Pacific Migration Journal, 3(1), 81–92.
Fields, G. (1994). The migration transition in Asia. Asian and Pacific Migration Journal, 3(1), 7–30.
Ghosh, B. (Ed.). (2000). Managing migration: Time for a new international regime? New York: Oxford University Press. (http://www.oup-usa.org).
Heeks, R. (1996). India’s software industry: State policy, liberalization and industrial development. Sage Publications. http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=524286. Accessed 1 Apr 2013.
Klein, P., & Ventura, G. (2007). TFP differences and the aggregate effects of labor mobility in the long run. Berkeley Electronic Journal of Macroeconomics, 7(1), 1–38. (http://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/bejmac/v7y2007i1n10.html. Accessed 1 Apr 2013).
Lemert, C. C. (2005). Social things: An introduction to the sociological life. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.
Levitt, P. (1998). Social remittances: Migration driven local-level forms of cultural diffusion. International Migration Review, 32(4, Winter), 926–948. (http://www.jstor.org/stable/2547666. Accessed 1 Apr 2013).
Luo, Y.-L., & Wang, W.-J. (2002). High-skill migration and chinese Taipei’s industrial development. In OECD (Ed.), International mobility of the highly skilled (pp. 253–270). Paris: OECD. (www.oecd.org/sti/innovationinsciencetechnologyandindustry/internationalmobilityofthehighlyskilled.htm. Accessed 1 Apr 2013).
Martin, P. (1993). Trade and migration: NAFTA and agri culture. IIE. Policy Analyses in International Economics 38. Washington, DC: Peterson Institute Press. (http://bookstore.piie.com/book-store/73.html).
Martin, P. (2012). Reducing migration costs and maximizing human development. In I. Omelaniuk (Ed.), Global perspectives on migration and development. Netherlands: Springer. (www.springer.com/social+sciences/population+studies/book/978-94-007-4109–6).
Martin, P., & Abella, M. (2009). Migration and development: The elusive link at the GFMD. International Migration Review, 43(2,Summer), 431–439. (www.wiley.com/bw/journal.asp?ref=0197–9183).
Migration News. (1995, November). Mexico. Immigration and NAFTA, 2(11). http://migration.ucdavis.edu/mn/more.php?id=789_0_2_0. Accessed 21 Feb 2014.
Mundell, R. (1957). International trade and factor mobility. American Economic Review, 47, 321–335.
Orjuela, C. (2008, October). Distant warriors, distant peace workers? Multiple diaspora roles in Sri Lanka’s violent conflict. Global Networks, 8(4), 436–452. (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1471-0374.2008.00233.x/abstract).
Orozco, M., & Rouse, R. (2007). Migrant hometown associations and opportunities for development: A global perspective. Migration Information Source. www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?id=579. Accessed 21 Feb 2014.
Papademetriou, D., & Martin, P. (Eds.). (1991). The unsettled relationship: Labor migration and economic development. Contributions in Labor Studies, No 33. New York: Greenwood Publishing Group.
Pritchett, L. (2006). Let their people come: Breaking the gridlock on global labor mobility. Washington, DC: Center for Global Development. (www.cgdev.org/content/publications/detail/10174/).
Sirkeci, I., Cohen, J., & Ratha, D. (Eds.). (2012). Migration and remittances during the global financial crisis and beyond. Washington, DC: World Bank. ( http://publications.worldbank.org/index.php?main_page=product_info & cPath=0 & products_id=24219).
Skeldon, R. (1997). Migration and development: A global perspective. Harlow: Addison-Wesley.
Skeldon, R. (2008, March). International migration as a tool in development policy: A passing phase? Population and Development Review, 34(1) 1–18.
Smith, J., & Edmonston, E. (1997). The new Americans: Economic, demographic, and fiscal effects of immigration. National Research Council. Washington, DC: National Academies. (www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=0309063566).
Taylor, E., & Martin, P. (2001). Human capital: Migration and rural population change. In B. Gardener & G. Rausser (Eds.), Handbook of agricultural economics (Vol. I, pp. 457–511). Amsterdam: Elsevier Science. (http://www.elsevier.nl/).
UNDP. (2009). Overcoming barriers: Human mobility and development. http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr2009/. Accessed 21 Feb 2014.
UN DESA (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs). (2011). The age and sex of migrants 2011 wallchart. UN DESA, Population Division. www.un.org/esa/population/publications/2011Migration_Chart/2011IttMig_chart.htm. Accessed 21 Feb 2014.
Wasem, R. (2007, July 11). Immigration issues in trade agreements. Congressional Research Service. RL32982. www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/crs/rl32982.pdf. Accessed 21 Feb 2014.
Winters, A., Walmsley, T., Wang, Z., & Grunberg, R. (2002). Liberalizing labor mobility under the GATS. London: Commonwealth Secretariat. (http://books.google.com/books/about/Liberalising_Labour_Mobility_Under_the_G.html?id=scAdjjKy67UC).
World Bank. (2006). Global economic prospects. The economic implications of remittances and migration. http://go.worldbank.org/0G6XW1UPP0. Accessed 21 Feb 2014.
World Bank. (2012). Migration and development brief 19. www.worldbank.org/prospects/migrationandremittances. Accessed 20 Nov 2012.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Martin, P. (2014). The Determinants of Migration: In Search of Turning Points. In: Battistella, G. (eds) Global and Asian Perspectives on International Migration. Global Migration Issues, vol 4. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08317-9_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08317-9_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-08316-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-08317-9
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawSocial Sciences (R0)