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Migration transitions and the migration hump - theoretical reflections and an empirical test
HDRO Conference Room
4 February 2009
Time: 12.30- 2.00 p.m.
Topic
Going against popular ideas that development will reduce South-North migration, transitional migration theory and the related hypothesis of the "migration hump" predict that constraints-loosening and aspirations-increasing socio-economic development tends to have an inverted U-curve effect on net emigration. This hypothesised non-linearity of development-migration linkages contrasts with neoclassical and push-pull models and their derived policy recipes to “combat” migration through bolstering development in emigration countries. However, no empirical tests have been put forward to formally test this hypothesis for contemporary world migration. This paper aims to perform such a test by measuring the effect of various development indicators on immigration, emigration and net migration.
About the Speaker
Hein de Haas is a Senior Research Officer at the International Migration Institute (www.imi.ox.ac.uk) of the University of Oxford. He has a PhD in social sciences and an MA (cum laude) in human and environmental geography. He previously held lecturer and researcher positions at the University of Nijmegen and the University of Amsterdam and was a visiting fellow at the American University in Cairo. His research focuses on the linkages between migration and broader development processes, primarily from the perspective of migrant-sending societies. He did extensive fieldwork in the Middle East and North Africa and, particularly, Morocco. His current research interests include: migration and development, remittances, transnationalism, migration determinants, migration transitions and regular and irregular migration from sub-Saharan Africa to North Africa and Europe.
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