A conceptual framework for analysing migration behaviour in the developed world

This paper explicates a theoretical scheme with which to orientate research aimed at explaining various facets of migration behavior. Both aggregate and individual level approaches are subsumed within the scheme, with the so-called behavioral perspective representing an attempt to probe inside the black box that exists between a set of observed variables and overt migration. 4 major links are postulated, relating 1) observed variables to observed behavior, 2) observed or objective variables to their subjective counterparts, 3) subjective variables to an overall utility value, and 4) the overall utility value to observed behavior. Suggestions for future research include 1) recognizing the limits of single-equation regression models, 2) recognizing that results from the transformation of objective variables into their subjective counterparts are likely to vary according to methodology, 3) considering powerful methodologies such as information integration theory and conjoint analysis, and 4) appropriately modifying the relationship between the overall utility value, or preference, and overt behavior to incorporate a variety of individual and institutional level constraints.     

The determinants of labor migration in Egypt

The factors which affect individual decisions with regard to geographic movement in Egypt are examined and the magnitude in which each factor exerts its influence on aggregate geographic labor supply adjustments is estimated. The spatial unit used in the study is the administrative region, of which there are 25. No effort is made to esimate the impact which migration has had on the origin or destination region. The migrant will presumably choose that destination which, given his information, the migrant thinks will be best. The model which is employed attempts to explain gross interregional migration without the explicit introduction of an individual decision function. Rather, migration is related to certain aggregate proxy variables. Among the independent variables employed in the analysis are (origin and destination) income, education, urbanization, and population. The other explanatory variable used is the distance between region i and region j. The migration measure employed refers to cumulative male migration which occurred prior to 1960; the independent variables are defined for a given point in time (1960). The independent variables explain a reasonably large percentage of the variance in migration between regions in Egypt. All variables were significant at the 5% level or better. The findings indicate that distance acts as an important impediment to migration. Migration is away from low wage and toward high wage regions, which may have contributed to a narrowing of regional wage differentials. Migrants are attracted to regions which have large populations and to regions which have a large percentage of urban to total population. A tendency exists for migrants to come from regions with large populations. There is also some tendency for migrants to come from regions which have a relatively large urban population. Migrants do not appear to come from regions with high educational levels.     

Incorporating the effects of spatial structure in discrete choice models of migration

Discrete-choice theory and logit models are evaluated for their usefulness in analyzing migration patterns in a zonal system. The authors "argue that spatial effects and more specifically the relative location of zones are not taken into account in such analyses. We, therefore, introduce a measure of spatial structure and advocate its usage as a predictor of migration in such models. In an example of intrametropolitan migration in Toronto [Canada], we demonstrate that this variable is not only significant but also it improves the performance of all the other variables with the greatest impact on the distance between zones. In addition, inclusion of this variable improves the overall performance of the model in terms of residuals."     

An equilibrium model of gross migration

ABSTRACT The paper presents and tests a new model of migration which differs significantly from the conventional disequilibrium approach. We show that variations in rates of gross migration across regions are equilibrium responses to variations in levels of amenities, governmental policies, etc. The model is tested using data on the gross migration of whites, 1975-80, together with amenities such as climate and with economic variables such as government services, taxes and unionization. Empirical results suggest that the equilibrium model is more consistent with actual migration patterns than is the conventional disequilibrium approach. We estimate compensating differentials and migration elasticities for these variables.     

Determinants of temporary labour migration in southern India

We present new data from three village panchayats in northwest Tamil Nadu and investigate the associations between demographic and socioeconomic factors with temporary labour migration from this setting. Individual (n?=?1110) and household (n?=?278) level logistic regression models were used to demonstrate how factors at each of these levels can influence temporary labour migration trajectories. Young males were most likely to temporarily migrate for work from this region. Additionally, large households from historically disadvantaged castes with marginal land and housing were most likely to have at least one migrant member. Households with multiple migrant members appear to use temporary migration to cope with serious deprivation relative to households with only one migrant member. These findings provide a strong case that can be compared to other settings in India and can be used to inform improved policy and targeted development initiatives to support temporary migrant workers and their households.     

Urban bound migration and rural investment: the case of Mexico

The authors investigate an agriculturally based policy for improving rural incomes and for retarding the rural-urban migration flow. The production of agricultural goods is characterized by a production function in which output increases with increases in agricultural labor inputs, capital, public infrastructure, land, and technology. Differences among regions in agricultural technology will reflect regional differences in education, the institutionalized form of productive organization, and differences in access to technological information channeled through more technically advanced cities. To pick up the effect of out-migration changes in state agricultural labor supply and upon agricultural output, the state's agricultural out-migration rate is included together with the agricultural labor force. The gross migrant flow between 2 locations is hypothesized to depend upon a set of variables influencing the individual's perception of the economic rate of return to be gained by moving, a set of variables reflecting the individual's propensity to relocate, the labor displacement effects of investments, and the at risk population at 1 location available to migrate. It is also taken into account that individuals differ in their response to information about origin and destination wage differentials and that individuals may or may not perceive a new ecnomic gain from migration but may base the decision on other considerations. Results of a statistical analysis using data from the Mexican census of population for 1960 and 1970 are: 1) size of the rural labor force was negatively associated with agricultural wages, contrary to expectations; 2) small farmers have benefited from the expansion of irrigation in Mexico; and 3) higher urban wages attract migration, and higher growth rate of agricultural income retards rural-urban migration. With respect to the 1950-60 decade both agricultural income and rural out-migration impacts could have been substantial but both the impact on local urban growth and on the rate of in-migration to the primate city would have been slight.     

Net migration estimation in an extended,multiregional gravity model

A multi-regional framework is developed in order to analyze net migration over time to all 10 Canadian provinces within an integrated system of equations. "An extended gravity model is the basis for the equation specification and the use of constrained econometric estimation techniques allows for the provincial interdependence of the migration decision while at the same time ensuring that an important system-wide requirement is respected." The model is estimated using official Canadian data for the 1960s and 1970s. "The results suggest the predominance of the push factor for interprovincial migration for most provinces, although net migration to the Atlantic provinces is also shown to be subject to pull forces from the rest of the country." The effects of wage rate variables, unemployment, and political disturbances in Quebec on inter-provincial migration are noted.     

The impacts of parental migration on children’s subjective well-being in rural china: a double-edged sword

ABSTRACT

The emerging problem of left-behind children has attracted mounting academic and policy attention. Prior studies primarily cast light on left-behind children’s education, health, and behavior, while their subjective well-being is much less understood yet. Based on a nationally representative sample of rural children aged 10–15 in 2014, we examine the impacts of different types of parental migration on children’s subjective well-being and how these affects vary between boys and girls. The results show that parental migration is a double-edged sword: children from both-parent migrant families report compromised life satisfaction and relationship quality compared with those in integral families, and mother-only migration significantly lowers children’s subjective health. On the flip side, father-only migration enhances children’s aspiration for attaining college, an encouraging effect that is even stronger than that of parental education and family income. These effects are heterogeneous by children’s gender: boys seem to be more susceptible to the disruptive effects of both-parent migration; mother-only migration effectively promotes girls’ educational aspiration while father-only migration promotes boys’. This study portrays a comprehensive image of left-behind children. Relaxation of hukou restriction, equal access to education, and revitalization of rural economies are imperative to improve the well-being of left-behind children.

Abbreviations: LBC: Left-behing children; SWB: subjective well-being     

Multiperiod migration patterns: the timing and frequency of household responses

"The structure of intertemporal patterns of household migration responses is empirically examined. The findings indicate that migration decisions are often related to changes in household conditions in both prior as well as following periods, are dependent on the duration of household status characteristics (e.g., marital status) and not just their presence at any point in time, and finally that migration response in any particular period very often differs among households as a result of differences in the underlying structure of migration frequency behavior. These findings suggest that inferences based on comparisons of household migration responses over only a single period of time are incomplete, possibly to the point of being misleading." The study is based on a calculation of "the distribution of migration patterns between 1976 and 1979 for a sample of 4,739 households in the [U.S.] Michigan Panel Survey on Income Dynamics (PSIC)."     

A Spatial Typology of Israel on the Basis of Partial-Order Analysis

In the present study, a relatively new analytical technique—“Partial Order Scalogram Analysis with Base Coordinates” (POSAC)—is used to integrate subjective and objective measurements in the same way that other clustering techniques can be used to reduce a large number of observations to a limited number of major groups. The technique is applied to a geographical problem, involving 34 regions in the State of Israel, the economic welfare of which is characterized by means of ten objective socioeconomic variables and five subjective variables. The 34 regions are reduced to 5 manageable geographical spheres.     

A dynamic model of interregional migration flows in Great Britain

"The purpose of this study is to construct a dynamic model of migration in Great Britain based on time-series data developed from the records of the National Health Service Center Register (NHSCR) on male migrants of working age between 1975 quarter 2 and 1979 quarter 2." A two-stage methodology "was developed...which differed in many important respects from the techniques adopted in previous studies of time-series migration flows. Regional push and pull factors were derived on the basis of the revealed preferences of migrants, using a two-stream gravity model, and then subsequently related to vectors of regional characteristics, within a general dynamic setting. Factors affecting the overall volume of migration nationally were separated out from those determining the internal direction of migration flows, and factors affecting distance sensitivity. Despite weaknesses in the available data set, the results achieved...suggested many interesting dynamic responses, implying lengthy and important lags in the estimated relationships."     

Time-series modeling of gross migration and dynamic equilibrium

Firstly, the high association between in- and out-migration is investigated in a time-series context and modeled according to three categories: 1) job transfer, 2) job search and marriage, and 3) return migration. Under certain coditions it is shown that aggregation of these migrations yields a bivariate time-series model having feedbacks in both directions. Secondly, the recent phenomenon of sharp changes in net migration seems to be discontinuous and, hence, catastrophic modeling [Casetti (1981) may be appropriate. However, this paper considers gross migration between cores (metropolitan areas) and peripheries (rest of the nation) for which a continuous function seems adequate. This is done by introducing a multivariate time-series model. This model is empirically supported, especially in Japan, divided into 32 regions, by t-tests and Durbin-Watson ratios, although it excludes economic variables such as employment growth and wage differentials. This may imply that the recent dispersal from core to peripheral regions could be explained primarily by feedback from return migrants. Finallym, provided future streams of gross migration follow the past trends given by simultaneous equation estimates, in-migration and out-migration would approach a stable state in most regions. Irrespective of random shocks in the future, in- and out-migration would tend to approach a stable equilibrium. According to the estimation of the stable states, the 45 core regions in the US would continue to lose population through net outflows while those in Japan would continue to gain. The present model may thus be valid only for short-term forecasts. By introducing feedback and lag structures, however, it does offer one explanation for the recent population turnaround.     

Environmental influences on skilled worker migration from Bangladesh to Canada

We conducted focus groups in Toronto with 44 recent skilled worker immigrants from Bangladesh to explore whether their decisions to migrate to Canada may have been influenced by environmental problems. Previous research has documented how floods, cyclones, droughts, and seasonal precipitation variations affect rural‐urban migration patterns within Bangladesh, and to its neighbours. Most participants had not experienced such environmental hazards, having lived in Dhaka prior to migrating. However, Dhaka's ongoing problems with air and water pollution, sanitation, lack of green space, and food adulteration were cited by 70% as being relevant considerations for the decision to migrate. The degree of influence varied considerably among participants. Roughly 16% said pollution was their primary motivation for leaving, household members having suffered from illnesses traceable to air pollution or poor sanitation. Another 54% stated that Dhaka's environmental problems were part of a wider range of quality‐of‐life concerns that had some influence on their decision. The findings suggest that current migration to Canada is not connected with environmental migration that takes place within Bangladesh, but that urban environmental problems combined with other social, economic, and political factors can help drive migration.     

基于健康视角的城市就业者通勤模式选择及影响因素研究——以南京市为例

中国城市出现的居住和就业"空间不匹配"现象，对就业者日常通勤时间和方式产生了重要影响，进而影响就业者健康状况。依托南京市居民身体活动和健康状况问卷调查数据，根据不同通勤方式身体活动量的大小将就业者的通勤模式分为积极通勤、公共交通通勤和机动车通勤三种，构建多项Logistic回归模型探究城市就业者通勤模式的选择及相关影响因素。结果表明：①就业者对自身健康的主观认知和客观身体健康状况以及是否散步等健康行为显著影响通勤模式的选择；②通勤时间、加班等与工作相关的变量与就业者机动车通勤显著正相关，雨雪天气与积极通勤显著负相关；③个体社会经济属性中性别、年龄、家庭人口规模以及是否拥有小汽车等显著影响通勤模式选择。基于研究结果，本文对如何引导就业者选择更加积极和可持续的通勤模式提出了政策建议。     

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.     

Equilibrium and disequilibrium perspectives on regional labor migration

Some alternative models of labor migration in the United States are reviewed, with particular reference to the distinction between equilibrium and disequilibrium models of migration. The authors propose alternative tests to a model developed by Joseph Schacter and Paul G. Althaus "which explicitly recognize the stock-flow interactions between net migration and the distribution of regional population stocks and which make a clean distinction between equilibrium in the temporal and in the market-clearing sense."     

文物保护有机树脂溶液型加固剂应用过程中反迁原因的探讨

有机溶液型加固剂在使用中经常会出现反迁现象,通过对加固剂性质,被加固材料的性质及加固过程的讨论,指出由于溶剂快速挥速度低的溶剂,设法减少加固剂浓度及减溶剂的挥发速度,可有效地抑制反迁现象。     

Land-holding,participation in agriculture and short-term migration in rural India

ABSTRACT

We analyse a nationally representative data set from India for the year 2013 in order to provide evidence on how short-term migration is affected by household ownership of land and participation in agricultural activities. We estimate a recursive-bivariate-probit model recognising the simultaneity between short-term migration and the decision to operate the land. The results of the likelihood ratio test imply that it would be incorrect to ignore this simultaneity. Households with less than 1?ha of land and those leasing out land are more likely to have a short-term migrant. Households leaving their land fallow, a common occurrence in South Asia, are also more likely to have a short-term migrant. Moreover, the choice of crops and livestock farming has a significant role to play in the migration decision. Current initiatives to increase coverage of irrigation and facilitate access to formal finance could improve the livelihoods of small and marginal farmers, thereby reducing the probability of distress-related short-term migration.     

Discourse on migration and ethnic identity: interviews with professionals in Hong Kong

"This paper has revealed a complex set of relationships between migration, place and ethnic identity [in Hong Kong]. On the one hand, ethnic identity is shaped by the places where people have lived, particularly the places where they have spent the early years of their life; on the other [hand], places--being the context for socialization--provide the milieux where people learn who and what they are and how to act...." The authors note that "while legislation clearly regulates levels of immigration, international migration is also self-regulated by potential migrants in relation to interpretations of their ethnic identities and their perceptions of 'other' places."