SO 320 Theories of International Migration (with assignment at the end)

THEORIES OF INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION (Based on John R. Weeks. Population: An Introduction to Concepts and Issues. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1996)

The major theories that exist to help explain aspects of international migration, as outline by Massey et al (1993; 1994) include those that focus on the initiation of migration patterns: (1) neoclassical economics; (2) the new household economics of migration; (3) dual labor market theory; and (4) world systems theory. Then there are three perspectives that help explain the perpetuation of migration once started: (1) network theory; (2) institutional theory; and (3) cumulative causation.

The Neoclassical Economic Approach By applying the classic supply and demand paradigm to migration, this theory argues that migration is a process of labor adjustment caused by geographic differences in the supply of and demand of labor. Countries with a growing economy and a scarce labor force have higher wages than a region with a less developed economy and a larger labor force. The differential in wages causes people to move from the lower wage to the higher wage region. This continues until the gap in wages is reduced merely to the costs of migration (both monetary and psychosocial). At the individual level, migration is viewed as an investment in human capital. People choose to migrate to places where the greatest opportunities exist. This may not be where the wages are currently the highest, but rather where the individual migrant believes that, in the long run, his or her skills will earn the greatest income. These skills include education, experience, training, and language capabilities.

The New Household Economic Migration The neoclassical approach assumed that the individual was the appropriate unit of analysis, but the new household economics of migration approach argues that decisions about migration are often made in the collectively not only to maxi act text of what is best for an entire family or household. This approach accepts the idea that people act collectively not only to maximize their expected income, but also to maximize risk. Thus, migration is not just a way to get rid of people; it is also a way to diversify the family’s sources of income. Migrating members of the household have their journey subsidized and then remit portions of their earnings back home. This cushions households against the risk inherent in societies with weak institutions. If there is no unemployment insurance, no welfare, no bank from which to borrow money or even to invest money safely, then the remittances from migrant family members can be cornerstones of a household’s economic well-being.

Dual Labor Market Theory This theory offers a reason for the creation of opportunities for migration. It suggest that in developing regions of the world there are essentially two kinds of jobs—the primary sector, which employs well-educated people, pays them well, and offers them security and benefits; and the secondary labor market, characterized by low wages, unstable working conditions, and lack of reasonable prospects for advancement. It is easy enough to recruit people into the primary sector, but the secondary sector is not so attractive. Historically, women, teenagers, and racial and ethnic minorities were recruited into these jobs, but in the past few decades women and racial and ethnic minority groups have succeeded in moving increasingly into the primary sector, at the same time that low birth rate has diminished the supply of teenagers available to work. Yet the lower echelon of jobs still need to be filled, and so immigrants from developing countries are recruited—either actively (as in the case of agricultural workers) or passively (the diffusion of information that such jobs are available).
World Systems Theory This theory offers a different perspective on the emerging opportunity structure for migration in the contemporary world. The argument is that since the sixteenth century ( and as part of the Industrial Revolution in Europe) the world market has been developing and expanding into a set of core nations ( those with capital and other forms of material wealth) and a set of peripheral countries ( in essence, the rest of the world) that have been dependent on the core, as the core countries have entered the peripheral countries in search of land, raw materials, labor and new consumer markets.

According to world systems theory, migration is a natural outgrowth of disruptions and dislocations that inevitably occur in the process of capitalist development. As capitalism has expanded outward from it’s core in Western Europe, North America, Oceania, and Japan, ever-larger proportions of the globe and growing share of the human population have been incorporated into the world market economy. As land, raw material, and labor within peripheral regions come under the influence and control of markets, migration flows are inevitably generated ( Massey et al., 1993:445)

Migration flows do not tend to be random, however. In particular, peripheral countries are most likely to send migrants (including refugees and asylees) to those core nations with which they have had greatest contact, whether this contact be economic, political, or military (Rumbaut, 1991).

Network Theory Once migration has begun, it may well take on a life of it’s own, quite separate from the forces that got it going in the first place. Network theory argues that migrants establish interpersonal ties that “ connect migrants, former migrants, and non-migrants in origin and destination area through ties of kinship, friendship, and shared community origin. They increase the likelihood of international movement because they lower the costs and risks of movement and increase the expected net returns to migration” ( Massey et al., 1993:449). Once started, migration sustains itself through the process of diffusion until everyone who wishes to migrate can do so. In developing countries, such migration eventually may become a rite of passage into adulthood for community members, having little to do with economic supply and demand.


Institutional Theory Once started, migration also may be perpetuated by institutions that develop precisely to facilitate (and profit from) the continued flow of immigrants. These organizations may provide a range of services, from humanitarian protection of exploited persons to more illicit operation such as smuggling people across borders and providing counterfeit documents, and might include more benign services such as arranging for lodging or credit in the receiving country. These organizations help perpetuate migration in the face of government attempts to limit the flow of migrants.


Assignment: Gather data on the migration patterns of OFW’s and of Filipinos who have chosen to become resident aliens in other countries. If possible, get data for the last 10 years. Determine which is the favorite destination of Filipinos to work abroad and also determine according to the POEA and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) which countries have the most remittances in the last 10 years.