Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The impact of origin community characteristics on rural-urban out-migration in a developing country

  • Published:
Demography

Abstract

It is widely believed that structural variables such as inequitable land distribution, lack of rural employment opportunities, and rural-urban wage and amenity gaps influence population movements in developing countries. Yet quantitative evidence is scant. In this paper a multilevel model is used to investigate the effects of individual-, household-, and areal-level factors on rural-urban out-migration in the Ecuadorian Sierra. Data from a detailed survey carried out in 1977–1978 and from government macro-areal statistics are used to investigate factors affecting the out-migration of youths aged 12–25. Preliminary conclusions are presented on the usefulness of multilevel models in studying migration and policy implications for Ecuador.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Anderson, D., and M. Leiserson. 1980. Rural nonfarm employment in developing countries. Economic Development and Cultural Change 28(2):227–248.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anker, R. 1983. Female labour force participation in developing countries: A critique of current definitions and data collection methods. International Labour Review 122:709–723.

    Google Scholar 

  • Balan, J., H. L. Browning, and E. Jelin. 1973. Men in a Developing Society: Geographic and Social Mobility in Monterrey, Mexico. Austin: University of Texas Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barraclough, S. L., and A. L. Domike. 1966. Agrarian structure in seven Latin American countries. Land Economics 42:391–424.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Basile, D. G. 1974. Tillers of the Andes: Farmers and Farming in the Quito Basin, Studies in Geography No. 8. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, Dept. of Geography.

    Google Scholar 

  • Becker, G. 1976. The Economic Approach to Human Behavior. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bilsborrow, R. 1981a. Surveys of Internal Migration in Low-Income Countries: The Needfor and Content of Community-Level Variables. Geneva: International Labour Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • — 1981b. Priority areas for future research on demographic-economic interrelationships. Pp. 74–87 in Population and Development Modelling, Proceedings of UNIUNFPP Expert Group Meeting, Population Studies No. 73. New York: United Nations.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bilsborrow, R., and P. DeLargy (eds.). 1985. Impact of Rural Development Projects on Demographic Behavior, Policy Studies No.9. New York: United Nations Fund for Population Activities.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bilsborrow, R., and M. Foley. In press. La Planificacion de la Educacion: Un Modelo Nuevo, con un Estudio del Caso del Ecuador (Education Planning: A New Model, with a Case Study of Ecuador). Quito.

  • Bilsborrow, R., and D. K. Guilkey. 1986. Community and Institutional Influences on Fertility: Analytical Issues, World Population and Employment Program Working Paper. Geneva: International Labour Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bilsborrow, R., A. Oberai, and G. Standing. 1984. Migration Surveys in Low-Income Countries: Guidelines for Survey and Questionnaire Design. London: Croom Helm.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burch, T. 1979. Households and family demography: A bibliographic essay. Population Index 45(2):173–195.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Comite Interamericano de Desarrollo Agricola (CIDA). 1965. Tenencia de la Tierra y Desarrollo Socio-Economico del Sector Agricola-Ecuador. Washington, D.C.: Union Panamericana.

    Google Scholar 

  • Commander, S., and P. Peek. 1986. Oil exports, agrarian change and the rural labour process: The Ecuadorian Sierra in the 1970s. World Development 14(1):79–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DaVanzo, J. 1976. Why Families Move: A Model of the Geographic Mobility of Married Couples, Technical Report R-1972-DOL. Santa Monica, Calif.: Rand Corp.

    Google Scholar 

  • David, P. A. 1974. Fortune, risk, and the microeconomics of migration. Pp. 21–88 in D. and M. Reder (eds.), Nations and Households in Economic Growth: Essays in Honor of Moses Abramoritz: New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dejong, G., and R. Gardner (eds.). 1981. Migration Decision Making: Multidisciplinary Approaches to Microlevel Studies in Developed and Developing Countries. New York: Pergamon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Easterlin, R. A. (ed.). 1980. Population and Economic Change in Developing Countries. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ecuador, Consejo Nacional de Desarrollo (CONADE). 1985. Diagnostico Socio-demografico de 1a Poblacion del Ecuador, 1950–1982. Unpublished manuscript. CONADE, Quito.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ecuador, Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganaderia (MAG) and Office de Recherche Scientifique et Technique Outre-Mer (ORSTOM). 1978a. Diagnostico Socio-economico del Medio Rural Ecuatoriano. No.2: Tierra. Quito: MAG.

    Google Scholar 

  • — 1978b. Diagnostico Socioeconomico del Medio Rural Ecuatoriano. No.3: Poblacion y Empleo. Quito: MAG.

    Google Scholar 

  • Findley, S. 1981. Methods of Linking Community-Level Variables With Migration Survey Data. Paper presented to the United National Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, Technical Working Group on Migration and Urbanization, December 1–5, Bangkok.

  • Firebaugh, G. 1979. Structural determinants of urbanization in Asia and Latin America, 1950–1970. American Sociological Review 44:199–215.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fluitman, F. 1983. The Socio-Economic Impact of Rural Electrification in Developing Countries: A Review of Evidence. World Employment Programme Research Working Papers, WEP 2-22/WPI26. Geneva: International Labour Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaude, J. 1981. The Temporary Migration Phenomenon in the Sierra of Ecuador: A Formalised Approach, Project Report. Rotterdam: Erasmus University, Centre for Development Planning.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herrin, A. N. 1979. Rural electrification and fertility change in the southern Philippines. Population and Development Review 5:61–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • IBRD. 1979. Ecuador: Development Problems and Prospects. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • Instituto Nacional de Estadistica y Censos (INEC). 1978. II Censo Agropecuario, 1974. Resultados Definitivos: Resumen Nacional. Quito: INEC.

    Google Scholar 

  • International Development Research Centre (IDRC). 1977. Social Change and Internal Migration: A Review of Research Findings From Africa, Asia and Latin America. Ottawa: IDRC.

    Google Scholar 

  • International Migration Review. 1984. Women in migration: Special issue. 18:882-1382.

  • Judge, G. G., W. E. Griffiths, R. C. Hill, and T.-C. Lee. 1980. The Theory and Practice of Econometrics. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lasprilla, E. 1978. Diseno de la Muestra para la Encuesta de Migracion Rural-Urbana en la Region de la Sierra del Ecuador. Paper presented at the Conference of Latin American Sampling Statisticians, Mexico City, November.

  • Lee, S.-H., J. T. Fawcett, R. W. Gardner, and R. G. Abad. 1985. Community, Household, and Individual Influences on Migration: A Test of a Contextual Model in the Philippines. Working Paper No. 37. Honolulu: East-West Population Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maddala, G. S. 1983. Limited-Dependent and Quantitative Variables in Econometrics. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Middleton, A. 1979. Distribucion del Gasto Publico y Migraciones Internas en el Ecuador (mimeo). Quito: FLASCO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mincer, J. 1978. Family migration decisions. Journal of Political Economy 86:749–773.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nerlove, M., and T. P. Schultz. 1971. Love and Life Between the Censuses: A Model of Family Decision-Making in Puerto Rico, 1950–1960. Santa Monica, Calif.: Rand Corp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oberai, A. S., and R. E. Bilsborrow. 1984. Theoretical perspectives on migration. Pp, 14–30 in R. E. Bilsborrow, A. S. Oberai, and G. Standing (eds.), Migration Surveys in Low-Income Countries. London: Croom Helm.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peek, P. 1980. Urban Poverty, Migration and Land Reform in Ecuador, Occasional Papers No. 79. The Hague: Institute of Social Studies.

    Google Scholar 

  • — 1981. Agrarian change and rural emigration in Latin America. In J. Balan (ed.), Why People Move. Paris: UNESCO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peek, P., and P. Antolinez. 1980. Labour Migration in the Sierra of Ecuador: Causes and Incidence, World Employment Programme Research Working Paper WEP 1O-6/WP36. Geneva: International Labour Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Preston, D. A. 1978. Rural Emigration and the Destination of Migrants in Highland Ecuador, Working Paper No. 224. University of Leeds, School of Geography.

  • Proaño, F. 1978. Ecuador: Dinamica del Sector Agrario. Quito: Junta Nacional de Planificaciony Coordinacion Economica.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ravenstein, E. G. 1885. The laws of migration. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society 48:167–277.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, K. 1985. Household labour mobility in a modern agrarian economy: Mexico. pp. 358–381 in G. Standing (ed.), Labour Circulation and the Labour Process. London: Croom Helm.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, W. S. 1950. Ecological correlations and the behavior of individuals. American Sociological Review 15:351–357.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Romero, L. K., and W. L. Flinn. 1976. The effects of structural and change variables on the selectivity of migration: The case of a Colombian peasant community. International Economic Affairs 29:35–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schultz, T. P. 1981. Economics of Population. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaw, R. P. 1974. Land tenure and the rural exodus in Latin America. Economic Development and Cultural Change 23:123–132.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • — 1975. Migration Theory and Fact, Bibliography Series No.5. Philadelphia, Pa.: Regional Science Research Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sjaastad, L. A. 1962. The costs and returns of human migration. Journal of Political Economy 70: 80–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Standing, G. (ed.). 1985. Labour Circulation and the Labour Process. London: Croom Helm.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thadani, V. N., and M. P. Todaro. 1984. Female migration: A conceptual framework. In J. Fawcett, S. Khoo, and P. Smith (eds.), Women in the Cities of Asia: Migration and Urban Adaptation. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomas, R. N., and C. M. Croner. 1975. Migrant paths to Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula, Honduras: The role of accessibility. Social and Economic Studies 24:445–457.

    Google Scholar 

  • Todaro, M. P. 1976. Internal Migration in Developing Countries. Geneva: ILO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wainerman, C. H., and Z. Recchini de Lattes. 1981. El Trabajo Femenino en el Banquillo de los Acusados: La Medicion Censal en America Latina. Mexico City: Population Council and Terra Nova.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood, C. H. 1982. Equilibrium and historical-structural perspectives on migration. International Migration Review 16(2):298–319.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Carolina Population Center and Deportment of Biostatistics, University of North Carolina, 27514-3997, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

    Richard E. Bilsborrow & Richard Fuller

  2. International Statistical Programs Center, U.S. Bureau of the Census, Suitland, Maryland

    Thomas M. McDevitt

  3. Population Studies Center, University of Michigan, 48109, Ann Arbor, Michigan

    Sherrie Kossoudji

Authors
  1. Richard E. Bilsborrow
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Thomas M. McDevitt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Sherrie Kossoudji
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Richard Fuller
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bilsborrow, R.E., McDevitt, T.M., Kossoudji, S. et al. The impact of origin community characteristics on rural-urban out-migration in a developing country. Demography 24, 191–210 (1987). https://doi.org/10.2307/2061629

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2061629

Keywords

Search

Navigation