High-skilled Return Migration and Knowledge-based Development in Poland

It is by now well known that return migration of the highly skilled can have a significant impact on knowledge-based development in the regions to which they return. Whereas previous research has mainly focused on developing and newly industrializing countries, this paper looks at high-skilled return migration in an East European transformation economy, namely Poland. In our paper, we propose an analytical framework which integrates migration theory and regional development perspectives. Based on narrative interviews with high-skilled return migrants in Warsaw and Poznań, we show that high-skilled return migrants have an impact on economic development by acting as both investors and innovators, i.e. that they transfer and successfully integrate financial means as well as different types of knowledge into these local economies. Furthermore, the Polish example illustrates that social relations and institutional context are crucial in understanding how high-skilled return migrants contribute to knowledge-based development.     

The assumption of equilibrium in models of migration

In recent articles Evans (1990) and Harrigan and McGregor (1993) (hereafter HM) scrutinized the equilibrium model of migration presented in a 1989 paper by Schachter and Althaus. This model used standard microeconomics to analyze gross interregional migration flows based on the assumption that gross flows are in approximate equilibrium. HM criticized the model as theoretically untenable, while Evans summoned empirical as well as theoretical objections. HM claimed that equilibrium of gross migration flows could be ruled out on theoretical grounds. They argued that the absence of net migration requires that either all regions have equal populations or that unsustainable regional migration propensities must obtain. In fact some moves are inter- and other are intraregional. It does not follow, however, that the number of interregional migrants will be larger for the more populous region. Alternatively, a country could be divided into a large number of small regions that have equal populations. With uniform propensities to move, each of these analytical regions would experience in equilibrium zero net migration. Hence, the condition that net migration equal zero is entirely consistent with unequal distributions of population across regions. The criticisms of Evans were based both on flawed reasoning and on misinterpretation of the results of a number of econometric studies. His reasoning assumed that the existence of demand shifts as found by Goldfarb and Yezer (1987) and Topel (1986) invalidated the equilibrium model. The equilibrium never really obtains exactly, but economic modeling of migration properly begins with a simple equilibrium model of the system. A careful reading of the papers Evans cited in support of his position showed that in fact they affirmed rather than denied the appropriateness of equilibrium modeling. Zero net migration together with nonzero gross migration are not theoretically incompatible with regional heterogeneity of population, wages, or amenities.     

GENDERED SPACES ON TRIAL: THE INFLUENCE OF REGIONAL GENDER CONTRACTS ON IN‐MIGRATION OF WOMEN TO RURAL NORWAY

While the Nordic literature on rural migration and gender relations has usually focused on the push effects of a patriarchal or traditional gender culture on out‐migration of women, this article centres on the conjoint way in which regional gender contracts and female in‐migration shape one another. On the basis of survey data of women who migrated into Valdres, a rural area in Norway, as well as interview material, three ideal types of rural gender contracts are identified: traditional, modern and alternative. It is further demonstrated that women living by a traditional gender contract are more often attracted to Valdres than women living by modern and alternative gender contracts, and seemingly also tend to stay for a longer period of time. With the help of Halfacree's model of rural space, it is argued that the in‐migration of women serves just as much to sustain the region's traditional gender contract as to challenge it.     

Regional Fertility Differentials and the Effect of Migration: An Analysis of U.S. State-level Data

This paper explores, theoretically and empirically, the influence of interregional migration on regional fertility differentials. Specifically, it tests the hypothesis that regions that are closely linked through migration have, all else held constant, a lower differential in fertility than regions that are relatively isolated from one another. A model linking the fertility differential between two states to migration as well as a number of socioeconomic variables is articulated. The model is tested by means of a randomization procedure using U.S. state-level data for 1980. Results support the hypothesis that an increasing volume of interregional migration tends to lower regional fertility differentials.     

GHANA'S COCOA FRONTIER IN TRANSITION: THE ROLE OF MIGRATION AND LIVELIHOOD DIVERSIFICATION

Since the first commercial planting of cocoa in Ghana more than a century ago, the production of cocoa has been a key factor in the redistribution of migrants and has played a pivotal role in the development of both sending and receiving communities. This process has been acknowledged in the literature for decades. However, how migration flows have changed in response to changing livelihoods dynamics of the frontier and how this has impacted on the development of the frontier has only attracted limited attention. Based on a study of immigration to Ghana's current cocoa frontier in the Western Region, this article aims to examine how immigration and frontier dynamics in the Western region are contributing to livelihood transitions and small town development, and how this process is gradually becoming delinked from the production of cocoa. The article focuses on how migration dynamics interlink with livelihood opportunities and strategies. It is argued that migrants to the current frontier can be divided into at least four different types based on their migration, settlement and livelihood practices. Accordingly, to understand how the cocoa frontier changes as well as its continuation beyond the frontier crop, there is a need for a broader understanding of the frontier concept, and how frontier transformation interacts with migration and livelihood dynamics.     

BorderCrossings

Using the notion of a "geopolitics of mobility" this paper argues that international borders are more porous to capital than to displaced bodies. Juxtaposing these two levels of mobility generates two distinct but related geographies. Mobility is also theorized by seeing how colonial, Cold War, and ethno-nationalist struggles have shaped people's histories of migration, and by examining displaced groups in a context cognizant of both cultural and political difference as well as material relations of power. Focusing on the relationship between Europe and the Horn of Africa, especially movement of Somali peoples, the paper shows that a colonialism of derision has been transformed into a colonialism of compassion.     

Rural–Urban Migration and Gender Disparities in Child Healthcare in China and India

This article assesses the impact of rural–urban migration on gender disparities in children's access to healthcare in China and India. Much research has shown widespread discrimination against girl children in both countries, including in health investments, contributing to the well‐known problem of Asia's ‘missing’ women. Much less clear is the impact of the massive rural–urban migration now occurring in China and India on discrimination against daughters. Migration is usually thought to have a positive effect on child health, because of improved access to healthcare facilities, but this is not necessarily equally beneficial for both sons and daughters. Based on fourteen months of fieldwork with rural migrant families in Shenzhen (China) and Mumbai (India), this article argues that where migration improves access to healthcare, it may increase rather than decrease the gender gap in treatment of child illness in the short term, as resources are concentrated on the treatment of sons. Furthermore, it is not the case that rural–urban migration necessarily leads to better access to healthcare even for sons: some forms of migration may actually have an overall negative effect on child health outcomes. For these two reasons, development strategies focusing on large‐scale rural–urban migration should not be seen as a short‐term solution to problems of gender inequity in child health.     

The impact of family ties on the mobility decisions of gay men and lesbians

In the twenty-first century, life paths are becoming ever more unpredictable and unstandardised as lives are lived in more diverse ways. Theories of individualisation suggest that this is a sign of an increased focus on the individual and the weakening family ties. Gay and lesbian migration studies that have focused on the importance of individual identity and coming out fit well into this narrative. However, as most of these studies have been conducted in the West, less is known of the lives of gay men and lesbians in other contexts. This study examines how a non-Western context differs from the Western experience through a case study involving interviews with gay and lesbian individuals in Izmir, Turkey. The results of the interviews highlight four themes: (1) the importance of the family as both constraining and supportive, (2) the emergence of gay and lesbian identities in Turkey leading to different cohort experiences, (3) the significance of emotional ties and intergenerational living and (4) empowering educational and work trajectories. It is argued that gay and lesbian migration must be reconceptualised beyond the view of the family as an entity to escape from. Rather, the study highlights the significance of the family and demonstrates that while individuals are becoming more independent, family ties are not necessarily weakening. Instead other trajectories, such as education and employment function as empowering paths in order to support and sustain identities. Thus, in contexts where the act of coming out is challenging, the potential for other life course trajectories should be considered.     

Competition for talent: retaining graduates in the Euregio Meuse-Rhine

Graduates are considered a convenient source of human capital in today’s knowledge-based economy. It is therefore crucial to understand what drives their mobility intentions to retain larger numbers of graduates. This is particularly true for peripheral regions, which need to compete with economic centres that are assumed to be more attractive. This paper adds a euregional perspective to the existing literature on graduate migration by investigating whether or not students intend to stay in the Euregio Meuse-Rhine (EMR) after graduation. It takes into account the role of hard and soft locational factors, social factors as well as individual characteristics in shaping future graduates’ mobility preferences. Using survey data from 2015 from five higher education institutions in the EMR, this paper finds that mobility intentions are determined by students’ perceptions of the quality of life, openness and career opportunities in the euroregion. In addition, distance to the partner and other social ties such as family and friends influence migration intentions.     

Studying embodied encounters: autonomy of migration beyond its romanticization

Abstract

This article forms part of the attempt to develop the concept of autonomy of migration as an approach that is no longer prone to critique of implicating a romanticisation of migration. Drawing on the example of biometric rebordering, it shows in the first part, that it becomes pertinent to address the two allegations that drive this major critique, as their warranty increases due to the technologisation of border controls. It then introduces a reading of autonomy, which emphasises that moments of uncontrollability and excess of migratory practices can not be thought in isolation of the conditions, in which they emerge. The second part introduces the notion of the embodied encounter as a transmission channel that mediates between the investigation of the situated practices of particular migrants and the assertion of an abstract autonomy of migration, thereby efficiently dissolving the two criticisms that have been raised against the concept of autonomy of migration. What the adoption of this analytical focus affords to acknowledge is, however, that neither migration, nor borders exist as such, but are brought into being in the innumerable encounters between people on the move and the actors, means and methods of mobility control.     

劳动力转移的理论流派与地理学的视角

简单回顾了关于劳动力转移的几种主要理论观点,除综合性的分析外,将劳动力迁移理论归纳为四类分析框架,即二元结构转换理论,以个人决策、成本-收益为主的分析理论,受家庭、社会结构影响的收益-风险分析框架,环境与移民相关分析学派。对人文地理学对劳动力问题的理解,以及近年来国内人文地理学在劳动力转移问题研究的主要议题进行了总结。认为,与现有的成熟理论相比,当前国内地理学对农村劳动力转移的研究存在框架和核心的缺失,偏重于刻画人口/劳动力流动的空间特征,对城市的特别关注,尤其是外来人口对城市空间和城市经济的影响,关注劳动力转移的影响,对劳动力转移的条件、过程的研究不够。对地理学调整改变视角,发挥学科优势,参与中国农村劳动力转移研究提出了建议。     

西周封国徙封的文献举证——以宜侯夨簋铭文等四篇文献为中心

西周一些重要封国的封地曾经发生过变化,这种变化对西周封国格局和国家的政治进程产生深刻影响。虽然之前已经有学者提醒注意,但一直未能举出文献中对于徙封直接记载的条目,也不清楚文献中是否有关于徙封的直接表述。分析可知,宜侯夨簋、邢侯簋、《诗经·閟宫》、《诗经·崧高》四篇周代文献中"迁侯于宜"、"■邢侯服"、"俾侯于东"、"于邑于谢"就分别是对虞、邢、鲁、申四国徙封的明确记述。这些文献还揭示了西周封国徙封的一些细节和特征。找到了文献例证,未来可以在更稳妥的基础上探索西周封国徙封问题。     

Turbulent Lives: Exploring the Cultural Meaning of Regional Youth Migration

Migration is an important part of the lives of many young adults. In numerous areas around the world, and particularly in regional and remote areas, cultures have emerged where the migration of young adults is normalised and expected. While the impact of the migration of young adults on the areas they have left and have moved to has received considerable attention in both political and academic arenas, there is a need for more research that addresses the cultural meaning of migration and the importance of the migration process for young people themselves. The paper is based on two large research projects undertaken between 2000 and 2005, which focused on the experiences of migration of young adults in Tasmania, and includes data sourced from interviews and focus groups with young migrants as well as an analysis of media and policy documents. We discuss the ‘turbulent lives’ of young people in Tasmania, including the expectations and aspirations of young adults growing up in a culture in which migration is normalised and their experiences of leaving, and returning to, their childhood homes. These issues are considered in the context of recent theoretical debates surrounding the impact of mobility and attachment to place on the identities of migrants.     

Influence of fault map resolution on pore pressure distribution and secondary hydrocarbon migration; Tune area,North Sea

Pressure and hydrocarbon migration modelling was carried out in the Tune Field area, Viking Graben, offshore Norway. The pressures are considered to be controlled by compartments bounded by mapped faults. Two different interpreted fault maps at the top reservoir level (Brent Group) are used as input to the modelling. First, a low‐resolution fault map is used, with only the large faults interpreted, and next, both large and small faults are included. The simulations show high overpressures generated in the western area, in the deeper part of the Viking Graben, and hydrostatic in the eastern areas. A sharp transition zone results from using the low‐resolution fault map in the simulations. Small N–S striking faults situated in between the wells have to have higher sealing capacity than expected from juxtaposition analysis alone, to be able to match the overpressures measured in well 30/5‐2 and 30/8‐1S in the Tune Field, and well 30/8‐3 east of Tune. The intermediate pressure in the western part is probably related to flow in the deeper parts of the sedimentary column in the compartment, where well 30/8‐3 is situated. The secondary oil migration models show that overpressures have major effects on the migration pathways of hydrocarbons. The level of detail in the fault interpretation is important for simulation results, both for pressure distribution and for hydrocarbon migration.     

Where does all the talent flow? Migration of young graduates and nongraduates,Canada 1996–2001

It has recently been suggested that cities and regions should focus upon attracting talented individuals as a means to develop. Such a suggestion implies two things: first that it is possible to meaningfully alter migration flows by way of local policy, and second that these flows have an effect on local growth (and not the reverse as has generally been admitted). In this paper, we begin to investigate the empirical foundations of such assertions by examining some structural determinants of graduate migration flows by comparing them, in a gravity model context, to flows of nongraduates. Our contention is that, if migration flows are structured by such factors, then policies aimed at modifying flows—and any research purporting to give such policy advice—must first take them into account. We show that migration flows are strongly dependent on basic gravity variables such as size and distance, but that these and other variables (such as income differences, presence of graduates and border effects) do not affect all flows equally. Furthermore, we show that certain factors that are assumed to be local (such as wage levels) in fact only operate at a provincial level. Thus policies implemented locally may have little or no effect if they are manipulating factors that operate at a different scale.     

转型背景下原单位职工迁居行为特征与机制——以广州市海珠区江南中街为例

本文研究原居住在江南中街单位职工的迁居行为,浅析其形成迁居意向的过程和择居特征。结果表明:单位职工的迁居比例超过60％,且迁居空间模式以近距离的近域迁移为主,近岗迁移和郊区迁移为辅,迁居方向联系较弱。分析其原因:经济改革和城市经济发展是促成单位职工迁居的基本前提,迁居户的经济能力是根本的决定依据,决定了迁出地和迁居形式。本文调查对象-单位职工具有一定的职业及收入共性,因此他们在迁居时所考虑的因素还包括了居住惯性,家庭生命周期、生活方式改变的需求及作为单位职工特定的社会因素等。     

Studying marriage migration to Europe from below: informal practices of government,border struggles and multiple entanglements

The growing importance of marriage as a migration strategy has been accompanied by a problematisation and securitization of marriages between binational couples in media and policy discourse. Moreover, marriage migration has received increased scholarly attention. In this article, we propose an analytical framework for the study of marriage migration and its government that permits to transcend three biases and related blind spots that we identify in the existing literature. While this literature offers rich insights into marriage migration and states’ ever more laboured attempts to control and regulate it, this literature is, nevertheless, characterised by an implementation gap bias, a control bias and, finally, a destination country bias. To address these biases, we propose an analytical framework that is inspired by the autonomy of migration approach. We propose to ethnographically study binational couples’ encounters with marriage migration related authorities in countries of destination and citizenship with a particular focus on binational couples’ struggles for visas, resident permits and a right to family life. Illustrated through ethnographic research, we show that this methodology permits to highlight three aspects of marriage migration that have not been sufficiently considered so far. These include the securitization of marriage migration ‘from below’ through informal practices of government on the ‘street-level’, binational couples’ inherently political border struggles and their capacity to negotiate restrictive legislations and bureaucratic hurdles and, finally, what we call the multiple entanglements of binational couples in the border and citizenship regimes of two or more nation-state orders.     

行业异质性与空间黏性：企业迁移成效的差异及其解释——以英德市产业转移园为例

企业迁移成效的差异是经济区位理论和区域发展政策关注的重要科学问题。区域产业转移实践往往呈现出多个行业的产业转移到相同区域的特征,以及产业转出地和转入地之间对不同行业的空间黏性存在差异,导致区域产业转移效果存在差异和理论解释的复杂性。基于此,本文从企业迁移的微观视角出发,以珠三角地区转移到粤北地区的产业转移园为例,通过行业投产数据的比较和空间盈利边界的理论演绎,分析区域不同行业产业转移效果的差异及其成因。研究表明,企业迁移成效存在行业异质性的差异,这是由于不同行业企业的对转出地的空间黏性大小不同造成的。空间黏性较小的企业比空间黏性较大的企业有更多的空间盈利。     

Migration and ethnic nationalism: Anglophone exit and the ‘decolonisation’ of Québec

This article explains the effects of ethnic nationalism on Anglophone and Francophone migration. The rise of Québec ethnic nationalism in the 1960s dismantled the cultural division of labour, which created new opportunities for Francophones but threatened Anglophones' traditional dominance over the Québec economy. This had negative consequences for Anglophones but positive outcomes for Francophones, which in turn accounts for differences in migration patterns. Drawing from the internal colony model as well as migration and exit‐voice theories, and using ecological census data, micro‐census data and election panel data, I find that the key variables that increase the likelihood of Anglophone out‐migration either do not explain Francophone out‐migration or have opposite effects. This is because ethnonationalist policies decreased the economic return particularly for well‐educated, higher‐earning, professional Anglophones in Québec, while increasing the economic position of Francophones and in particular well‐educated professionals.