Theories of Migration Explaining Why and How People Migrate Week1-Class 2 April1, 2010

Goal is to understand and predict: Who migrates and why How the decision is made What factors affect ( facilitate or hinder) the decision and the process of migration

Challenges Migration is hard to measure, and migration patterns are hard to predict since it is caused and shaped by many different factors and variables at the individual level, family level, society level, state level and international level.

1) Rational Actor Model Migrants are rational actors who try to maximize their gains and minimize their losses. Assumes: Migration is an individual level decision Migrants have access to perfect information Migrants are able to weigh the costs and benefits of migrating

Shortcomings of the model Migration is not an exclusively individual level decision Family tries to minimize the risks while the individual tries to maximize the benefits Household collective decision making model (Women as contributors to the decision)

Shortcomings of the model (cont’d) Criticism of rational choice model: –Individuals never have access to perfect information –It is hard to weigh benefits and costs when people do not have access to all necessary information

2) Economic Models Dual economy model (Wage / employment differentials in traditional and industrialized economies) Neo-classical economic model (Push-pull model)

Push and Pull Factors: Pull factors (destination): –More jobs –Higher income potential –Political freedom –Education opportunities (human capital) –Better living standards

Push Factors (sending country): Low Wages Less Employment Opportunities High Population Bad living standards

Laborer at work in rural Mexico, earning less than 80 cents an hour Mexican migrant harvests broccoli in California, earning $6.75 an hour

“Push” vs. “Pull” Factors in Mexican Migration to the U.S. Question: “The last time you went to the U.S., would you say that it was mainly to escape conditions in Mexico, or because of the opportunities that the U.S. offers?” Conditions in Mexico:19% Opportunities in U.S.:81%

Reasons for migrating to U.S. in 2005 (among residents of two Mexican rural communities) Economic Necessity30.4% Returning to the Same Job in the United States 13.9% Better Pay in the United States13.9% More Job Opportunities in the United States9.6% No Jobs Available in Mexico4.3% Family Reunification12.2% Other15.7%

Key assumptions of neo-classical model  Potential migrants have perfect information  Initial costs of migration aren’t prohibitively high  Potential migrants are independent decision-makers  International borders are relatively permeable

Shortcomings of economic models It is not the poor workers who migrate, but those with some resources. Migration is costly Undermines role of state and institutions Assumes migration takes place in a free, laissez-faire migration market and in a unregulated environment

3) World Systems Theory Marxist explanation of migration patterns Stress the unequal economic and political development of the core (capitalist) and periphery countries. Migration is seen as an exploitation by the rich/core countries of the resources (cheap labor) of the poor countries in the periphery.

Critique of the model Fails to explain why restrictive policies emerge in the “core” receiving countries

4) Political Models (Role of State Policies) Immigration policies ie. liberal, nativist (restrictive) –US migration restrictions for Chinese ( ) –US Quota Period ( ) Immigrant policies (social, political and economic rights) Direct labor recruitment through guest worker programs (economic agreements between receiving and sending countries)

Mexican “bracero” contract workers arrive in U.S. by train, 1942

Portuguese “guestworkers” arrive in Hamburg, Germany, 1965

5) Migrant social networks (Sociological model) a) Informal networks: family and friends available in the destination country. b) Formal networks: Commercial /professional recruitment networks c) Illegal networks: Smugglers They decrease the risk associated with international migration Increase the chances of survival and success in the destination/

Unauthorized Mexican immigrant family reunited in California

Family ties determine choice of migration destination Question: [if planning to migrate to the U.S. :] “Where do you think you will go, and why that place instead of some other?“ Relatives who already live there:42.7% Already has a job arranged there:15.3% Likes it as a living environment: 15.3% More job opportunities there: 8.3% Other reasons:18.4% Source: UCSD survey of returned migrants and potential first-time migrants, interviewed in two rural Mexican communities, January 2005

WHY IS IMMIGRATION SO CONTROVERSIAL? What are the burdens and benefits associated with international migration?

For Receiving countries: Controlling borders (to keep the ‘undesirable immigrants’ out) -Ensuring economic and technical growth of the society (in what ways are immigrants going to contribute to the society?) -Integrating immigrants admitted (structural and cultural integration) -Security and social stability (ie cultural clashes, threats to dominant identity) -Concerns over increased welfare costs, loss of jobs and lower wages

Commonly used anti-immigration arguments in the United States: Are they myth or reality? Immigration is a drag on U.S. economic performance and competitiveness (Assumption: immigrants are low skilled)  Immigrants enlarge the poverty population, straining public health and education resources and causing higher taxes.

 Immigration reduces job opportunities for the least skilled native-born residents, especially minorities who must compete with low-skilled immigrants. Ad running on Iowa television stations, December-January , sponsored by the Coalition for the Future of the American Worker, a Washington DC-based anti- immigration advocacy group.

Poster by anti-immigration group NumbersUSA (Arlington, Va.)  Immigration degrades the environment, causes overpopulation, overcrowding in big cities.

 Immigrants raise crime rates; presence of “illegals” breeds disrespect for our laws.  Immigration is shifting the country’s ethnic/racial balance to an unacceptable degree.  Immigrants undermine cultural cohesion, dilute the country’s “core culture,” contribute to “Balkanization.”

“Lax immigration laws caused the 9/11 attacks on America.” -- Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) “Terrorist Alley: The U.S.-Mexico Border” (website of U.S. House of Representatives Immigration Reform Caucus)

More myth than reality: The perception that migrants are more of a burden on host countries than a benefit is NOT sustained by research In the UK, between , migrants contributed $ 4 billion more in taxes than they received in benefits. In the US, the National Research Council estimated that national income had expanded by $ 8 billion in 1997 because of immigration.

There is rarely direct competition between immigrants and local workers. Migrants occupy jobs at all skill levels, with particular concentration at the higher and lower ends of the market, often in work that nationals are either unable or unwilling to take.

Pro-immigration arguments  Immigration stimulates national economic growth, by providing needed skills and an expanding labor supply. --it replaces people who aren’t born and won’t enter the labor force, due to low birth rates. ( = “replacement migration”)  Immigration helps consumers by dampening inflation, by reducing labor costs  Immigration provides new, young workers to pay for Social Security and other benefits to retirees

For Sending Countries Brain-drain can deprive a sending country of its educated and productive members Remittances sent by migrant to home country can help the economic growth of the sending country. Political advantages: Diaspora associations can strengthen cooperation between communities at home and abroad.